Faleatiu Primary School students have returned to classes despite last Friday's inferno destroying their top-floor classrooms with the rubble and damage from the blaze still visible. 

Samoa Observer visited the school on Thursday afternoon, six days after the fire destroyed the school building, and found that while most debris had been cleared the absence of desks led to the students sitting on the floor in classrooms downstairs and using whatever books left from the fire.

The ground floor of the two-storey building now caters to more than a hundred students but the pupils and parents have appealed for urgent assistance after last week's blaze.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer, a concerned parent who resides behind the school, Kanela Savusa said the fact that the children are using a classroom partially destroyed by fire last week is a concern, especially with the exams scheduled for next term a fortnight away. 

"After the fire, there were options to use a building next door owned by the church, as well as another building further up the road from the school," he said. "However, the staff decided not to because they were also considering the furniture of the church in case the kids might break it or damage it.

"They decided to bring them back to that one building that's left from the fire which is very risky because it was also affected by the fire.

"As you can see, that building was also impacted but it was the one made from cement so it held the building together. However, I still worry that the building might collapse while the students are inside.

"That's why we also use this opportunity through Samoa Observer to urge whoever is out there to assist us, maybe for starters, by bringing the kids some furniture, chairs and desks as well as stationary as all those things were destroyed by the fire last week."

Mr. Savusa has three children who are students at the school and he continues to worry about the fire's impact on their education. 

Some of the books, which were left following last week's blaze and were scattered around the compound, were collected and used for the students' studies.

Attempts by this newspaper on Thursday to get a comment from the school principal were unsuccessful at the time of going to press.

Last Friday the fire swept through the top floor of the two-storey building and destroyed the classrooms. It started in the afternoon with authorities and eyewitnesses still puzzled as to what actually caused the fire.

Contacted on Wednesday this week for a comment, the Fire and Emergency Services Authority Commissioner, Tanuvasa Petone Mauga said he was on leave and he is yet to get an update on the status of their investigation. 

F.E.S.A. first responders arrived on the scene last Friday, about an hour after they were contacted and were able to contain the blaze. However, by that time most of the school building was destroyed, though there were no injuries as the students and teachers had finished for the day and gone home. 

Mr. Savusa told this newspaper last week that it was heartbreaking witnessing his children's classrooms burn while he looked on helplessly.

"When I got out of the house, the whole building was already engulfed by the flames and there was nothing anyone could do but to call the firefighters," he said. "The heat from the fire reached as far as my home and neighbours around the school which was devastating and so we focused on making sure that no kid was close to the heat or the premises.

"I was teary-eyed because three of my kids go to that school and I was lost for words and was heartbroken to just watch it go down the drain just like that while I couldn't do anything to prevent or save at least something from the fire."

When Samoa Observer visited Mr. Savusa's home on Thursday, he was clearing out the remaining furniture from the school and tried to fix them for the students to use for the time being.