Children are our future. How many times have we heard a politician say that? Too many to count but have we seen any political will to ensure that the children of this country have a future? It is very pathetic to see zero attempts being made to ensure that the future of this nation has access to early childhood education or preschool.

The National Council of Early Childhood Education has urged the Government to provide support and help to set up more preschools for the sake of young children. According to the latest statistics, of the 25,000 children under five years old, only 5,000 are enrolled in Early Childhood Education.

The Council's President, Lemalu Kuinimeri Tamati, told the Samoa Observer that this must be addressed immediately. She said the government's lack of support would cause it to be ignored, undermining the importance of education and every child's rights.

Just look at the irony of this situation. In February 2023, the then Minister of Finance Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molio'o was re-appointed as the co-chair of the Pacific Early Childhood Development Forum.

This is what she had said back then. "As decision-makers, we are very fortunate to have had deliberations on the importance of shifting our focus on our children and committing our time, effort and money to starting them young.

"It's the foundation of everything we push for. If we start investing in our children now, we will need not to worry about the future of our islands and countries."

She admitted that only 26 per cent of Samoan children were enrolled in pre-schools and made a commitment to improve the numbers before the convening of the next E.C.D. Forum in 2025 in Samoa.

So far, we have not seen any attempts to reach that goal. Three months of 2024 are almost coming to an end and soon we will be holding this forum that the Minister spoke about. Will we sugarcoat figures and put out general statements to hide the reality of the situation on the ground?

Early childhood education is the vital foundation for literacy and numeracy skills that the children of this country are lacking. Ask any Year One teacher and they will tell you the difference in the learning ability of a child who has come through the ECE program as opposed to one who starts straight from home.

Out of the 125 schools under the ECE centre, only 25 fulfil the prerequisites and standards necessary for preschool education.

The new law mandates that children under the age of four must participate in early learning programmes. Despite this requirement, many four-year-olds stay at home, and little action is taken to address this issue.

The government gave a grant of $141 million to MESC, NUS, and SQA in 2019 for a five-year period, which they have so far utilised for higher education and nothing for early childhood education.

Just on Wednesday, all cabinet ministers gathered at the Samoa Tourism fale and welcomed the launch of the new logo and website for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October. A good amount of money must have been paid for the website development and the logo design. It seems a lot of effort is being put into showing that Samoa can host the event. Who are we showing this to, people who would grace our shores for two weeks and go away?

How about having the same drive, initiative and funding for the children of Samoa to ensure that they receive the much-needed early childhood education? Every village needs a preschool or kindergarten, equipped with an ECE teacher who must be paid by the government. This is the only way to do it. Parents who have children under the age of five years also have the responsibility.

The law is clear about this situation. The responsible authority should start charging parents if they fail to send their children to preschool or kindergarten. We are talking about the very fundamental building block to a smarter and more productive nation. It is a crime that there are no investments in early childhood education.

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.

This also leads to better-prepared citizens of this nation who will have the ability to make better decisions as leaders. It is time parents and the government wake up to this because failure to deal with the situation now will end up having an unqualified labour force, which we are seeing today in many industries.

Invest in children, it is your duty to do so.