Samoa - Education



The adult literacy rate is estimated to be over 97%. Formal education is provided by the Department of Education and five religious missions. Government and mission schools have a uniform syllabus and common examinations. The government school system is the more comprehensive, with almost all its teachers holding Samoan teachers' certificates. Village schools provide four years of primary schooling. District schools draw the brighter pupils from village schools and educate them through the upper primary level. In the Apia area, urban schools provide a lower-through upper-primary curriculum. A major educational goal has been to make Samoans bilingual, with English as their second tongue. In the senior classes of the primary schools, all instruction is in English. In 1989 there were 37,883 primary school pupils. The pupil-teacher ratio at the primary level was 24 to 1 in 1999. In the same year, 97% of all primary-school-age children attended school, while 68% of those eligible attended secondary school.

The government maintains secondary schools, in which the medium of instruction is English. Samoa College is patterned after a New Zealand secondary school; each year, 100 pupils from government and mission schools are selected for admission by competitive examination. Vaipouli High School, in Savaii, provides a general secondary curriculum, and Avele College, in Apia, offers training in modern agricultural methods. In addition, the University of the South Pacific School of Agriculture maintains a campus at Alafua, on the outskirts of Apia. The medium of instruction in mission secondary schools is English, with curriculum and textbooks similar to those used in New Zealand.

Samoa was one of the founders of the regional University of the South Pacific. The National University, which was established in 1984, was upgraded and provided with a new campus in 1997. Other tertiary institutions include the College of Tropical Agriculture and a Trades Training College.

Also read article about Samoa from Wikipedia

User Contributions:

1
Courtney
This is great info! I needed it for a school project and this was perfect!
2
Teresa
I was pleased to read this information. I have always wanted to know more about Samoa. I am a teacher and I have Samoan students in my class. I have been to your country on a ship 30 years ago.
Some of the men I worked with on the ship were Samoan. Thank You
3
katelina
Thank you very much for the posted information, it really helps my research!
This is great information which is much needed for the reasearch assessment i am conducting.
I have been away from the education system far too long. This is excellent info and am proud to be a Samoan. i am an ex TTC student. Thank to all who are contributing to an excellent system!!
Great Info! A on paper about samoa! thanks for the help!
this is so grate i do this to cheat with my projict
This helped me very much with my school work!!! The guud old copy and paste
9
Be-jow
Thank yo so much, you are a fantastic writer, for helping mwa with my Samoa project..

~Be-jow
10
naomie
Thanks for the information this wil help on my school project.
11
Chris
Thank you for the info if i pass this project i get to graduate!
12
Elisabeth Osborne
My name is Elisabeth Osborne and I am a 7th grader at Williamsburg Intermediate School. We are doing a project called Wave to the World where we are trying to share a message with at least one person in every country of the world during 24 hours! Our message is “We can't make a perfect world, but we can make a better one."

Please visit our website at wavetotheworld.org and share our message TODAY with your friends! We have lots of student projects posted for you to see how we are making the world a better place.

Thank you,Elisabeth O.
13
Julinche
I wish I could get information on how samoan students in the past get educated before school came here in Samoa or how students in the past learn before school restore in Samoa

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