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This section of SamoaLive is designed to help the community understand the educational policies at all levels of the educational system in Samoa. This section will provide an outline on the courses being taught so that the parents could help their children in the planning of their careers. Details on the scholarship awards available will help in assessing the best award to  apply for.
To help the community in supporting the schools, this section has also focused on helping out in bringing together the school associations, in particular the associations on old pupils who are helping out with special projects for their schools. The internet links will help bring together the locally based and overseas based associations.
Please let us know if you want your school association to be added to the network of associations on SamoaLive.

Government Policy on The Education Sector

The Government's general objectives for formal education are stated in two documents: Education Policies 1995-2005 and Education Strategies 1995-2005, which were developed under the NZODA funded Education Policy and Planning Project of 1993-5. The 1998-99 SES states that:

"the policies and strategies … are designed to build an institutional structure capable of delivering an educational product that meets the criteria of equity, quality, relevancy and efficiency to its stakeholders".

They provide a policy framework and strategic plan for educational development across the sector and include sections on early childhood education, primary education, secondary education, teacher education, special needs education, departmental and school management, and post-secondary education and training. Since 1995, all initiatives within the formal education sector meet one or other of the component projects identified in the plan for each of the sub-sectors.

Description

Samoa’s schooling system consists of an eight-year primary and a five-year secondary programme. Since 1994 school attendance has been compulsory for all children aged 5-14, or until the completion of Year 8. All government primary and secondary schools (139 primary, 21 junior secondary, 4 senior secondary) are administered by the Department of Education (DOE) which is located on the Malifa compound and headed by the Director of Education and four Assistant Directors. A group of 23 school inspectors operate as field administrators facilitating liaison between the DOE and the primary and junior secondary schools in the 22 educational districts. Their function is to monitor school management and educational programmes, supervise staff performance and organise the staffing of schools and transfer of teachers.

The financing of schools has always been a task shared by parents and government. Village and district communities own and are responsible for their own school buildings, furniture and equipment, while government pays for the salaries of teaching and administrative staff and provides stationery and curriculum materials.

Each primary and junior secondary school is managed by the village, or district, which owns it. A School Committee, Komiti Fa'atino o Aoga, is responsible for school management according to a charter, Feagaiga mo Aoga, developed with the guidance of a DOE produced manual. Komiti are comprised of the principal, inspector, village pulenu’u or pastor, and village people appointed by the Village Fono in the case of primary schools (or representatives of each contributing village in the case of junior secondary schools). Although DOE personnel have established dialogue with Komiti about the improvement of school management, and provided support with developing improved budgeting and other processes, it is reported that the impact of this initiative is variable across schools.

The three primary schools located on the Malifa compound, and the four government senior secondary schools, one of them also at Malifa, continue to be owned and managed by the DOE and are funded directly from Vote Education with supplementation from school fees. The non-government schools (16 mission and two private at primary level, six mission at junior secondary, 13 mission and one private at senior secondary level) are administered by their own directors and management boards and are largely self-funding with some assistance from government.