BRAVO FOR THE EDUCATION BILL! It is about time. It breaks my heart to see those young children peddling wares on the streets, day and night...It is the parent's job to provide for the children...not the other way around...Faamalo to lawmakers in wanting to help...yes, you should look into ways to help the parents put their children in school...I am a prodigy of both American and (Western) Samoa schools and wearing uniforms does not (in any way) help with academic learning...feeding the teachers, providing for school materials should not be a factor in providing education to our children...Please help our children...for their sake!

I support the education bill, it's sad that we have so many youngsters walking the streets selling things just so their families can survive.
So what now? hmmmm are we about to see some changes on the streets? instead of children we'll probably see parents, grandparents selling things on the streets just so the parents can afford to put their children in school. What I'd like to see is tuition assistance offered by the government.....ia ai e sa'o ai le kala a leisi koeaiga se'i oo ile kausaga o Apipa feto'a pasia lea e le malo se bill faapea..

I was born in Western Samoa but I finished high school in Mapusaga High in Am. Samoa. I supprort the education bill, the kids need better education and the parents in W. Samoa need to see that kids are better off with better education than they were. Life is much different when my parents were alive and living through all the old way of life, fortunate they saw the light and moved away to the USA. It's sad to see kids on the street selling to support the family or help mom and dad. Kudo for the education bill again....
Malo lava...

Feed the teachers??? You've got to be kidding me? The teachers, administrators, and staff need to pack their lunches just like everyone else. This hierarchical crap needs to stop! The sole purpose of educating the Samoan children is to provide alternatives for their future. The parents need to understand how critical education is to their livelihood.

Additionally, education should be FREE for all children and parents that DO NOT send their children to school need to be whipped and fined. Ok, so we don't whip kids here in America but the government fined parents and cut their welfare checks...I like the whipping better though...

Good luck!

e sao lelei lava si au kei, e mafaufau tatou i mea na ola mai ai tatou matua, its tough its not easy anymore now a days it all depend, its not what u know its who u know. Education come first than anything else noone wants to see their kid end up on the street, once u start a family u think its easy at first but no my friend its all about knowledge and brain. i hope u get a good start next year God bless and good luck.

It's the most fantastic news I have ever heard, Even though the uniform is a bit much for parents but if they can afford the fa'alavelave and the donation to the church they can afford the uniform. Now days in Samoa almost everyone live in a house, you rarely see anyone in a faleo'o most people eat good as well. Those days in the past has long gone, where the elegi slide down your way lol. In my village I provide the uniform for the one in need the most, if the grades are good they get uniform for the following year as well. I feed the faifeau every Friday and Saturday my days off and 5 teachers at the school where my village kids attend. Out of those 10 kids from my village my top 5 kids with the highst achievement I take care of their bill. So It will be great if they get to go to school for almost free.

Let's pray that will happen.

Feeding the teachers according to some village chiefs is the extention of our Samoan tradition of hospitality to our guests. Most teachers are teaching not in their own villages and so qualify them as guests according to the chiefs. If we are to stop that without making a law about it, the the teachers themselves should initiate that by bringing the matter to the concerned village councils. Perhaps they should start with a suggestion that the village should provide food everyday so that the teachers could feed the children and in that way the kids will be able to stay longer in schools to learn more. It will always be hard for the chiefs to stop feeding the teachers because of our mentality. E kauvalea ai le guu faapea e kufagua etc.

Ia e sa'o lelei lava oe Sane, I called my sister in Samoa one day and she was stressed out trying to put together a lunch that her daughters was responsible for to fafaga the teachers or whatever crap they were doing at school. I think it was through some suega and such being held at school and my niece was one of the students to bring part of the luncheon. Ae a fafaga foi e le'o gi sanuisi, e fetagisi ifo lava i moa, laui'a and meaai mamafa. No wonder some of the parents cannot afford to sent their children to school. What kind of education system do we have? Did the parents signed a document that they are obligated to feed the faculty on special days or whatever? It's disgusting and Samoa should outlaw that kind of practise in elementary or junior high. Alu le faiaoga ia e a'e i luga ose giu e avifo ai saga popo e ai aua le lunch. Or maybe the parents should just stand up and say "NO MORE" to fafagaring of the teachers...

We were just over in samoa for a holiday when we sent containers we send containers at least 3 times per year .
We went shopping for the house meat and all the things they need in the villaqe.
The next day we could not belve that the food was all cooked for the teaches when these kids had nothing they would give to these teaches and l am sure that the food went home to the rest of the teaches family yes this has to stop

Hey Jazzy, it's sad when you hear stories like these in Samoa but it's very true. I work for the school system here in America as an elementary school Principal. And trust me, the parents and the school community will be in an uproar if we mandate kids to bring lunches for their teachers....I guess an apple isn't too bad but even that's questionable now. The bottom line is that teachers in Samoa get paid for teaching and I don't doubt they make good money and a lot more than some of those families in the villages. So why burden the kids with feeding the staff when the kids have to find school supplies, uniform, tuition, etc. Yet when it comes to 'fa'alavelaves' we NEVER fail to come up with all that money for it.

The bottom line is that Samoa needs to reevaluate its priorities and give education the utmost attention because that's the future of Samoa. Otherwise, more and more foreigners will come to Samoa and take over businesses and land and run the economy. If that continues, Samoans will become 'slaves' to these outsiders.

I firmly believe that Samoa does not put kids first. The only time they are worth considering is when it's the 2nd Sunday in October (White Sunday)...and then it goes right back to the mistreatment of children.

My sister in Samoa has often called me to help pay for her kids school tuitions and I've complied in the past. But I realized that I was also enabling her and her bingo habits. So I stopped paying for them. Unfortunately, the last 5 of her 9 kids have not graduated nor have attended school consistently. It's not my problem because she's much older than me and she can't rely on us here in the US to support her kids' education when she bingo's every time she gets a chance and has a smoking habit. It's not that I don't like them but I realized that I have to care for my own kids in college and public schools. That's my priority NOT the ones in Samoa that only call when there's a 'fa'alavelave'...

Ok, maybe I've said, enough... gotta get back to work...

Soifua,

It's easy for us staying outside to criticise feeding the teachers. It's best we go stay in the villages to feel and understand what they think out there. It's part of the culture and it is life to the people. It is their way of life. A change in that should come from the education department itself if they are hearing what we are saying. But let me assure you, that even if the ed department makes a move in that direction, that will never stop the chiefs from giving the teachers ( or any other kind of guest in the village) a share from any feast (faiga ai, faasalaga, saumolia etc) that they may have. It is the culture of the people, it is the way they are. The teachers and pastors are seeing as guests of the village, guests that have become part of ther daily lives. Therefore, they are to be fed whether they like it or not.

For those of you who did not attend school in "kua or Savaii" as i did may not understand this concept, but yes, i agree this none sense has to stop. At the same time, the issues here is about "Children must attend School" The issues of supplying food for teachers has been a part of our culture ever since i can remember. Now, we may not do it anymore in some school systems in Apia, but i do know it still goes on in my village in Savaii. No, don't shoot the messagner, but let me elaborate a little bit. I remember as young boy, i have been taught in all the days of my youth that we (when i say we, i mean the general Samoa population, like the aumaga, and yes especially the children) that we give outmost respect and the best to faifeau, the matai, and school teachers. This has been a part of our Faa-Samoa culture ever since i remembered.

Today we treat our faifeau with outmost respect as if they were "Gods" Whenever there's a faalavelave, faaipopoga or maliu, they get the the very best of everything, like the best fine mats, plenty of cash, and special parts of any lifestock. We look upon the faifeau with highest regards as if he was God no matter how alcoholic and abusive he is or was. The same respect we give the faifeau when he preach from his pulelaa every sunday and demanded money from the have or have not. The same respect we give the faifeau when he stripped me and other young men clothes infront on the whole agoa sa. This same respect that even the Matai of the village refused to question the faifeau characters as if they were going to be threatened by a lighting because of who the faifeau is. Yes, this actually happened and i'm sorry that i had to air out.

This same respect we extend to the Matai of the villages. The children, women and the aumaga serves the Matai of every family in the villages. Once again, when there's faalavelave, the family with no matai contributed the same amount of goods with the families with the matai, and when everything is said and done, the matai always get the best of everything, and the family with no matai gets nothing. Again, this is part of our culture even though it's unfair and absurd.

This same priciple applies to teachers as well. I know that teacher has the ability to discipline students in school in any shape or forms. I know a few times that i not only gotten the lapalapa on my behind, but i also got it from my dad when i got home. These same principles and values makes Samoa unique from any other countries in the world. We had no such law as child abuse as the faifeau, the matai and teachers became the law. As the phrase state "It takes a whole village to raise a child" I believe this phrase was referred to Samoa. These same principles and values have led student's family to provide meals for the teachers as if they were our parents away from home. The teachers were given the same rights like the faifeau, and the matai as if they were the parents to teach the children and disciplined them anyway possible, and yes, that included whipping with the lapalapa or the salu kuagiu. This is the Faa-samoa way of life and this was part of our culture.

By no mean i agree or disagree to feed the teachers as we do so with the faifeau. I do know that Children deserve the very best of everything, and if the government makes a priority to put the children first, then the government need to pass laws to protect the children for they are the future of Samoa.

Correction please, feeding the teachers is not something thats happening in villages from nuu i tua. This is happening all over Samoa. I am from Apia, I went to the same public schools my nieces and nephews are attending in Samoa. And many moons ago I was a teachers aid, at lunch time I would hurry myself off to the faculty lunch room and wait for the parents to bring the food in for everyday lunch. To see our elderly parents and grandparents walking from their homes with a umu, with laui'a, suamoa, any heavy food. These poor souls would turn around and walk all the way back to whereever they hailed from. Coz they couldnt afford a bus fare to return home. My parents were victims of such practise, the truth is on my side, coz i was there and I lived through it. The aoga a le malo i Apia were the schools that i attended. And I believe the government oloo mafua ai foi gei mea. I've read online when or afai e alu gi asiasiga ale malo i nuu i tua e matuai faatali mai lava ele nuu with a big feast. And yes, its part of the culture, but if the government were to make these asiasiga or whatever, they know that the village would feed them. Then the government should also prepare to give monetary compensation for these villages. Ae leai e faamalo lava ulu ole au kaupoe lega e o e fai asiasiga i aoga i tua ma Savaii e kele mea e fafaga ia papa koe o ma ave meaai loll...lol. ia ae kuu ia ole ulu poo lava ole ulu poo..happy reading.

Ailoga ose agaguu lea a Samoa e fafaga faiaoga. Ia ka'ilo ua oka fefe e sooga fai aku se kala i faapea foí ua faaleaga le culture a Samoa. lol

It's not a culture thing to feed the teacher, it's an appreciation from parents whom they put their trust in to the hands of teachers to educate their children. Ole tu faasamoa moni, ole alofa e fai ai mea uma. Pe mative, Pe maumea e muamua le alofa. But political wise and palagi wise they should not allow the parents to feed the teacher, you pick morally or financially for me let the parents make that choice not the goverment.

food is given because teachers come from other villages to teach in other village's school, at college well i cant remember taking a toonai except for the boarding school like samoa college where you take toonai(not too sure)
but..............

sometimes food is for bribery "se o le taisi a ma le moa" e tei a ua plenty foi le faiaoga for the kids to come first in their class lol

don't know if they still do it for that purpose tho but have heard stories tho

masalo lau susuga e le i ola i kokogu o se guu i samoa. pe ga ola foi ae le malamalama i mea o fai ai.

E malo lava le ave ia Maulolo male vaega e soalaupule le iku lea