The Ministry of Education Sports and Culture (MESC) launched its Lifelong learning lab on Thursday morning with the UNESCO and the India UN-Development Fund funding the project.

Director and UNESCO Representative to the Pacific States, Ms Nisha, acknowledged the perseverance of the Ministry in enduring the changes since 2019 which held up the project. 

"This long journey was marked by changes and adaptations that MESC and our team had to do," she said in her opening remarks. 

"It was felt that technology must be improved if Samoa is to move towards a modern society because Samoa needs to access information in a more up to date knowledge."

Ms Nisha also pointed out the four pillars of the Samoa Knowledge Society initiative which she said are foundations of the project.

She said the concept of a knowledge society when it was first discussed in Samoa had different perspectives on what it constitutes and how to go about it. 

"These are essential differences because they reflect that one of the essential pillars for a knowledge society is in good shape. And that pillar is freedom of expression," she added.

"So the foundation started correctly and as we moved we recognised the technological leanings of this initiative because it was felt that technology is the tool that must be adopted if Samoa is to grow in the direction of a knowledge society.

"This is not because Samoa's oral tradition is not good, but in a very interconnected world of today, it is insufficient."

Emphasising that knowledge needs to revolve with time, Ms Nisha said the second pillar is access to information. 

"Without it, no knowledge can be created and without freedom of expression new knowledge cannot be created," she said.

The UNESCO Representative also referred to the need for multilingualism, highlighting the significance of making information of resources, knowledge, research available in the languages of the people. 

"Otherwise, language turns into power, into elitism and consequently knowledge becomes preserved for a select few so people cannot question them," she said. 

"This conceptualisation is open to critique, analysis and further development."

According to Ms Nisha, a knowledge society is inclusive and "everybody is a student and everybody is a teacher". 

This conceptualisation thus came from the four pillars forming the foundation of a knowledge society," she added. 

Ms Nisha said to be a knowledge economy, policies are evidence based, leadership is informed and the direction is democratic so knowledge economy is inclusive with a focus on sustainable knowledge.

The Minister of Education Sports and Culture, Seuula Ioane, thanked UNESCO and the Consul General of India, Leonidas Apete Meredith as well as acknowledged the hard work of the MESC staff for enabling the project to be successfully completed.