Last week’s celebration of one hundred years of the Marist Brothers Old Pupils’ Association (MBOPA) follows the earlier celebration by Avele College Old Pupils’ Association (ACOPA) of their hundred years of service.

The marking of these two events tells the story of the growth of education and academic learning in our country.

Until 1900, the school system in Samoa was entirely run by the missions - the London Missionary Society, Methodists, Roman Catholics, the Latter Day Saints, and Seventh Day Adventists.

The first government school system in Western Samoa was established by the German administration of 1900-1914. When New Zealand took over from the Germans, education became part of the New Zealand mandate."

But New Zealand’s attitude to the education of Samoans, observers noted, was based on the policy of “don’t alienate them from their natural environment.”

So only Europeans and part Europeans were allowed to enter the government’s high school. This led to many Samoan families opting to adopt the mothers’ European surnames so that their children could enroll at the high schools.

It was not until 1949 that the Accelerate School was set up for Samoan children. As the name says, it was a speed-up effort for full-blooded Samoan children to catch up to their part-European peers.

As for the scholarship scheme, it was also a Samoan initiative led by the late Fonoti Brown and other like-minded leaders who started a fund to send Samoan children for primary and higher education in New Zealand. It was only later that New Zealand took over funding for the scholarship scheme. Much later still, Australia and other countries offered places at institutions of higher learning.

There was also the Crash Program when senior Samoan public servants went overseas for training in readiness to replace Palagis at Independence.

The late author Afemata Apelu Aiavao told the story of the “tunu ‘ulu” (roasted breadfruit) by Malietoa Tanumafili II and Tupua Tamasese Meaole as they discussed the next step of the Samoan children’s education. The discussion, Afemata reported, was at Vaivase and the result was the establishment of Samoa College in 1953. The starting roll was made up of all the Accelerate School students and others from the European high school.

These two sagacious leaders justly became joint-Head of State at Independence in 1962.

The cooperative effort with other island nations resulted in the setting up of the University of the South Pacific (USP) and later still our own local university – the National Univesrsity of Samoa (NUS).

We note with thanks the efforts of MBLPA for the furtherance of education. Thank you, Tuatagaloa Aumua Ming Leung Wai, all members of your Board and all old pupils of the Marist Brothers’ Schools. Thanks also to ACOPA and their members and other school associations for your support of education development in our country.

As an old pupil of the Accelerate School, who did not make it to Samoa College, I will never have the pleasure of celebrating an anniversary of our school; but enough that we have vicarious enjoyment of celebrating MBOPA’s centennial anniversary.

But we ask: when will the government enforce the compulsory schooling legislation?

And when will we have free education starting with free primary education for every Samoan child?

We need doctors, teachers, policemen, farmers, engineers, architects, artists, judges and other professionals. The key is education. Manuia le aso Sa.