The Saint Joseph's College has become the latest educational institution to sign on to an online learning portal called the 'SJC E-learning portal'.

The moving of the college onto the online platform comes courtesy of the Class of 1997 ex-students, who took it on as a project to get the teachers and the students signed up.

A Class of 1997 representative overseeing the project on behalf of his peers, Toleafoa Chris Brown, said the Saint Joseph's Principal Susitina Levao and staff have also assisted to make it possible.

"We are moving to use the E-learning portal for parents, teachers and students. This way parents can actually see and monitor if their children are attending classes and using their phones wisely. This platform is for St. Joseph's only and we called it the SJC E-learning portal," he said.

"We don't have to wait for the official launch, so we have set up the students accounts but we were trying to look at ways to get the students to access it. As we all know, we have our S.O.E. orders so we need to look at ways that we don't breach the SOE orders and get fined.”

Mr Brown is the coordinator for the E-learning platform at the Saint Joseph's College. The college is yet to launch its E-learning portal platform. However, they have already set up student accounts.

Miss Levao said the college had been prepared for the lockdown with E-learning portal getting introduced to them last year. However, the measles epidemic resulted in them not launching it.

"The talks of the platform started last year and we were going to launch it but then the measles crisis hit Samoa and now it's the coronavirus. However, Saint Joseph's College is using all means of communication to get through to the students to make sure they are not behind with the curriculum," she added.

The college is currently providing hard copies of homework for parents to pick up from school, and Facebook chat groups are then used to reach the student, which Miss Levao said is quicker than email.

"Some students are not allowed by parents to use cell phones so we have called in parents and discuss with them the time in which classes are going to take place so that parents can monitor them closely. But for the E-learning portal, we are prioritizing our seniors to access it and then our juniors will follow suit," she added.

The college is not behind in terms of its academic homework for students, according to Miss Levao.