The Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) of the Ministry of Education Sports and Culture (M.E.S.C.), Aeau Chris Hazelman has stressed that the extension of the school break won’t disturb the distribution process of the $17.7 million One Government Grant (O.G.G.) Scheme.

According to Aeau during a press conference on Friday, the Ministry has divided its staff in five groups.

“The Ministry has divided its staff in five groups to be allocated to each district and this is the opportunity for the Ministry to meet with each districts’ school principals and representatives from the school committees as their signatures are needed for conditions of the O.G.G project,” he said.

“On Monday and Tuesday they will be in Savaii.”

The Ministry emphasized for all constituencies in Savaii to take note that the due time will be 12pm on Tuesday and it is to be strictly adhered to and there will be no extension granted for late submissions.

The groups will also be allocated to each constituency in Upolu on Wednesday and Thursday next week with the C.E.O also stressing a reminder of the strict 12pm deadline on Thursday.

“The goal is by Friday (next week), M.E.S.C and the Ministry of Finance will be able to work on finalising the documents so that when schools start, the funds are already in each schools’ accounts,” Aeau added.

Meanwhile, there is a base grant approved by the Cabinet for the funds to be allocated based on the number of students and the goal is for all schools to have the same base grant.

A total of 342 educational institutions will benefit from the O.G.G Scheme which the Ministry announced earlier last year.

Details of the grant scheme, which comes as a result of a Cabinet Decision FK 22(07) issued on 9 March 2022, were released by the Ministry highlighting that the grant will cover all Government, mission and private schools and particularly for early childhood, primary, college and T.V.E.T. levels as well as special schools. 

A breakup of the recipient educational institutions for this academic year is as follows: early childhood education (126); primary schools (171); colleges (38); technical vocational educational training (4); and special schools (3).

The grant fund also includes assistance to the School of Hope (Samoa Victim Support) as well as the National Council of Early Childhood Education.