The total cost of a new hall to be constructed by the Avele College is estimated to be around $1 million tala and is scheduled to be completed within a year.

The new hall will replace the old one that the school has been using for more than 30 years. 

The President of Avele College’s Parents and Teachers Association, Tagaloatele Papali’I Poloa, told the Samoa Observer after the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday that the old hall was not able to accommodate the 1,000 students who are currently attending the college.

“Before it was not a problem because the number of students would usually range from 300 – 500 students, but currently there are almost a thousand students educated here at Avele College,” he said.

Teachers of the secondary college said the old hall needed repairs regularly as it was easily affected by floods which damaged the old hall’s floor and roof.

“When it rained on certain days, we would not hold an assembly because of the state of the old hall when weather conditions were bad,” said one of the teachers.

He said works on the college’s new school building which was completed recently resulted in the cost of the old hall’s relocation getting lower than how it was before.

Tagaloatele said the old hall was easily flooded during heavy rain because it was located in a low area. Also the new hall will be constructed in a higher location so that flooding can be avoided.

The funding for the new school project is spearheaded by the Parents and Teachers Association of Avele College with the Avele College Old Pupils Association also set to assist funding.

The foundation of the new hall has already been built right across from where the old hall is situated, with Tagaloatele adding that they aren’t building a modern type hall, but instead a traditional hall styled like an open “fale”.

“We aren’t aiming to construct an up-to-date kind of hall; we want a simple one that’ll be able to house the students of Avele College,” he told this newspaper.

“We call upon the help of all the past former students of Avele College, to assist in raising funds for the planned new hall."