Samoa's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa last Friday gave an address at the 10th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning in Calgary, Canada.

The conference, which was co-hosted by the London-based Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and the Athabasca University, was held from 14–16 September and attracted many senior Commonwealth officials, with Prime Minister Fiame's address was one of the highlights of the three-day conference.

The conference featured a broad spectrum of international educational speakers and panellists. The forum is held  every three years and is considered one of the world’s leading international conferences on open, distance and technology-enabled learning.

In her speech, the Prime Minister initially talked about the vulnerabilities of education systems in small island developing states, especially those in the Commonwealth and the "regular disruptions" brought on by natural disasters, health crisis and even conflict.

"For small islands developing states, ‘building resilience’ focuses on how to build a greener, fairer future within the context of climate change and education," Fiame told the conference delegates. 

"Samoa’s commitment to resilience, is reflected in how we have situated it within the context of our national development strategy, the “Pathway for the Development of Samoa (PDS)” which articulates the priorities that will shape Samoa’s development for the next five years premised on the key pillars for sustainable development."

Samoa's national plan also revolved around the central theme of "empowering communities, build resilience and inspire growth", according to the Prime Minister.

"Realisation of this commitment will pave the way for the achievement of our longer-term vision of 'fostering social harmony, safety, and freedom for all'," she added.

Samoa was not spared in terms of the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, which Fiame articulated to the conference delegates, saying the public health crisis led to "learning loss" brought on by school closures.

"The COVID19 pandemic added further weight to the burden of challenges we were already struggling with. The issues of learning loss due to school closures has been critical for Samoa. 

"In fact, in November 2019, Samoa declared its first ever public health State of Emergency (SOE) following a wide scale measles outbreak. 

"The SOE lasted six weeks with significant impact on the population, education and the health care system. The SOE meant early closure of all schools that year. This also led to a contraction of economic activities prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns."

However, prior to the onset of the pandemic, there was a measles outbreak in Samoa, which the Prime Minister said the country was still recovering from only for another SOE to be declared due to COVID-19.

"In just over two months since the SOE for the measles epidemic was lifted, Samoa declared another State of Emergency on 21st March 2020, which saw the closure of our international borders and also schools," Fiame said.

"We  re-opened our borders just last month on 1^st August 2022 with the achievement of high vaccination rates across all age groups from 5 years upwards. 

"We built resilience through an intensive vaccination program well supported by the communities and enhanced access to vaccines with the help of our development partners. 

"Thus, for our children and people, the disruptions to education have been ongoing since the end of 2019 with the measles epidemic."

In a welcome address to the delegates at the conference, COL Chief Executive Officer and President, Prof. Asha Kanwar said they were meeting at a time when distance and online learning have been embraced globally. 

"In earlier editions of PCF, advocacy for open and distance learning was a major focus. This time we will discuss how open learning can be a key feature for fast tracking the transformation of education for the future," Prof. Kanwar said. 

"The future must be based on the principles of equity, inclusion and environmental conservation where the role of ODL will be more important than ever before."

According to Prof. Kanwar, innovative approaches will be required to build the resilience of education systems and innovations should not just relate to technology but to develop appropriate models, methods, policies and processes.  

"During the pandemic both policy makers and practitioners responded to the crisis with a sense of urgency and developed solutions appropriate to their contexts. 

"PCF10 provides a platform for diverse constituencies to come together and share their experiences and insights.

"This is also an opportunity to network and forge collaborations for building back better."

Fiame also used the opportunity to brief the conference delegates on Samoa's position on climate change and how "climate resilience" has been mainstreamed into all sectors including the education sector.

"In Samoa, climate resilience has been mainstreamed across all sectors including integration into the school curriculum from ECE to secondary level as well as a Disaster and Energy Climate Change course at the National University of Samoa, with certificates on sustainable energy and climate change and disaster risk management," she said. 

"Quality and resilient education throughout life helps people to be more concerned about the environment and to learn how to protect it. People with more education learn how to lower their negative impact on the planet by managing better their consumption, production, and trade. 

"Education can encourage people to use energy and water more efficiently and recycle household waste." 

For a full copy of Samoa Prime Minister's speech at the 10th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning, click on this link.

• Editor's Note: This story was updated on 21 September 2022 with the incorporation of excerpts from Prime Minister Fiame's speech after it was distributed to the local media by the Samoa Government's Press Secretariat.