High-quality early childhood education and care give children the best start in life. It provides important opportunities to learn and develop. Early childhood education and care can help your child make friends, develop independence and learn new routines. It also supports their transition to school.

It is now recognised that the early years of life are the most important for learning. That's when the foundations for the future are laid, and when we begin moving down the path that will take us through childhood, the teenage years and ultimately into adulthood.

High-quality early childhood education and care give children the best start in life.

These are the results of a very casual search of the Internet for the benefits of Early Childhood Education (ECE).

It’s a great pity that the Minister for the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development (MWCSD) seems somewhat less sensitive to bad news than one would expect of someone in her position.

Only one in five (20 per cent) of three to five-year-olds in Samoa being enrolled in ECE should be SHOCKING not just ‘disappointing’ statistics.

One would have thought the law for compulsory education was based on the certain knowledge that education “is the very foundation of good citizenship,” as has been declared by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Brown v. Education Board of Education.

For eons, Samoans have been spouting “a’oa’o le tama e tusa ma ona ala, a matua e le toe te’a ‘ese ai”.

So, what new perspectives ia the minister consulting about?

She has to enforce the law. To do so would solve the problem of the young vendors roaming the streets instead of going to school.

To do so would tell the irresponsible parents that the children’s future (and the country’s) depends on the education of their children.