P.M. sympathises with students and parents

By Sarafina Sanerivi 04 February 2017, 12:00AM

For many students, the 2017 academic year kicked off at the beginning of the week.

Unfortunately for some students, that was not the case. 

They cannot enroll just yet as they are still waiting for their results to be released by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture (M.E.S.C.).

Since Monday, parents and students have been lining up at the M.E.S.C.’s Headquarters awaiting the right results for their children so they can enroll. 

The issue is the source of widespread anger among parents who have criticised the Ministry.

Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, sympathises with them.

Speaking to the Weekend Observer, he believes students should be given a chance to enroll even if it’s late. 

Tuilaepa said the mistake was made by M.E.S.C. and therefore they should allow late enrollments for the students.

“The Ministry is at fault,” said Tuilaepa. 

“They made the mistake and they should give the children a chance to enroll and apply to the new schools the students want to attend. 

“The results are late because of an error they made. It is not the children’s fault or the parents.”

Tuilaepa said the Ministry was careless and they have to be fair to the students, parents and allow them to register even if it’s late.

This has been an ongoing issue since 2013, and the Minister of M.E.S.C, Loau Keneti Sio issued an apology in Parliament on behalf of the Ministry regarding the latest problem with the S.S.L.C. result.

“The truth is this is not a new issue. It started in 2013 and this issue has been happening over the years. But we are doing our best to solve it,” Loau said.

“I admit that the Ministry made a mistake, but we are doing our best to avoid having such problems. Our main priority is to improve on our service to nurture and educate the future leaders of Samoa.

 “I cannot hide in the shadow of the tree or try to make up excuses. The truth is, the Ministry made a mistake. But mistakes can teach us great lessons moving forward. This can help improve our work. I apologise on behalf of the Ministry to our country.”

However, it wasn’t just the S.S.L.C. results that were affected with this error. 

Results for School Certificate’s (S.C.) were also affected.

One student who was affected by this problem, Junior Loia told the Samoa Observer that he is disappointed about this problem.

“The thing is I need my S.C result to enroll at one of the schools,” he said.

“As a student, I’m worried that I might have no chance to enroll at the school’s Year 13 class because the results are late.

He told the Samoa Observer he’s looking forward to get his results so that he could go to school early next week.

By Sarafina Sanerivi 04 February 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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