Thousands of secondary school students are sitting the national exams this week and the next. For the Year 12 students, this is the decisive step towards choosing a career.

Every student sitting their exam is encouraged to do their best and hopefully, they have prepared well. This year must have been hectic with hours of study and countless assignments. They would have had to juggle family and church commitments with studies. We wish all students the very best.

It was shocking to note that close to 3000 students have yet to pay their examination fees for the national exams for Year 10 and Year 12.

The Ministry of Education and Culture Assistant Chief Executive Officer Maria Lei Sam Elisaia confirmed the exam fees were still outstanding.

As of last week, there were 1,246 Year 10 students who had not paid their exam fees and 1,375 Year 12 students were in the same boat.

The ministry said the unpaid exam fees should not be an obstacle for these students not to sit their national examinations. They are allowed to sit their exams, but the Ministry will hold their results. If these children want to progress to the next level of education, they have to pay their fees.

How have we come to this situation where so many children have not paid their exam fees? This is something for the absentee leaders of this nation to consider. Perhaps the funds raised in the United States and Australia can help pay for some of the children.

There are genuine cases where some families are unable to pay these fees due to financial constraints. These are the families that need help from the government and their district councils. Exam fees have become a tradition where the ministry gathers back some of its expenses in preparing the papers. It is a well-known fact that education is not free in this country.

Even for the so-called government schools, parents end up paying building and maintenance fees. There are added costs of travel, stationery and school lunches. Then there is the fundraising in schools and other extra-curricular activities.

The easiest way to ensure all exam fees are paid is if the amount is included in the building and maintenance fee of the school. This way the school pays for the exam fees and ensures that all students have paid their dues.

The best way to deal with this would be to scrap the fees altogether. This will set the pathway to achieving free education for the children of Samoa except for the exclusive schools. Getting all teachers to be civil servants and under the education ministry banner is the best way to achieve this but that is something for later.

The government has provided funds to the 51 district councils, maybe they can help the parents who are genuinely constrained with finances. The financial commitment for traditional requirements can be overbearing but that is not an excuse for not planning for the exam fees, something that every parent knows from the beginning of the year.

For those families who are financially able to afford the school fees and have not paid because of complacency, they should realise that the education of their children is not something they can be complacent about. For some of the families, financial literacy training is needed.

While these children undertake their national exams, the national infrastructure such as electricity should support this cause. The power outage on Monday and then again on Tuesday is also a concern that it could impact students sitting their exams.

Best of luck with your papers. We hope that parents motivate their children and drive away their anxiety with prayers and words of wisdom.