If you were not following the debate in the parliament this week on the supplementary budget you would have missed insights on Samoa’s youth bulge and its potential impact on the country.

Data on some of the challenges facing our young people today were shared by the Sagaga No. 2 M.P. Maulolo Tavita Amosa during debate on the Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2021/2022 this week.

An article (T.V.E.T. Centre needed to tackle dropout rates) in the Friday 21 January 2022 edition of the Samoa Observer had details of Maulolo’s concerns, which focused on the increasing number of students dropping out of Sagaga College.

According to the Member, over the past 5 years an estimated 80–85 per cent of students from Years 9 to 11 dropped out of college after the first three years.

He said the results of the students sitting for their Year 12 and Year 13 exams pointed to just 1 per cent or less of the pupils continuing to tertiary education.

The M.P. then made reference to Samoa Bureau of Statistics (S.B.S.) data, which showed 51 per cent of youth were unemployed in 2016, and urged the Minister for Education to address the issue.

Maulolo told parliament he was more concerned about the other fraction of students who missed out on further education, and called for the establishment of a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (T.V.E.T.) Centre in the area to take in those who could not make it to university.

The appeal by the Sagaga No. 2 M.P. has merit and should be seriously considered by the Government, although we note that there is currently a National Schools Technical and Vocational Education Training Policy 2018–2023 endorsed by the Ministry of Education Sports and Culture (M.E.S.C.) currently in place.

Under the Policy Samoa’s 23 Government-run secondary schools and 17 mission and private schools also offer vocational-based skills training programs for Year 9–13 students. Subjects taught as part of the secondary school curriculum are: Design and Technology; Agricultural Science, Food and Textile Technology; Visual Arts; Fine Arts; Music and Computer Studies. 

So if secondary schools are already offering vocational-based skills training programs for Year 9–13 students under a Government Policy that was introduced in 2018, why are a large number of students dropping out of college after 3 years of study?

The Sagaga No. 2 M.P. focused on the Sagaga College that caters for students from his area but what about the other colleges? Do they have similar experiences of a large number of students also dropping out between Year 9–13?

Interestingly, the Policy that the former Administration rolled out in 2018, also highlighted what can be referred to as bottlenecks that can make its implementation challenging.

Page 10 of the National Schools Technical and Vocational Education Training Policy 2018–2023 has a summary of the challenges.

The challenges according to the Policy are as follows:

• Year 11 and 13 students’ dropout rates have increased with the rates in 2018 at 20 per cent for Year 11 and 28 per cent for Year 13. 

• Increasing number of school leavers (after Year 13) unable to transition to post-school education or higher education providers for further studies.

• Pathways from secondary school to post-school education training (P.S.E.T.) hit by constraints such as fees impacting poorer families. 

• Societal perception of T.V.E.T. learning is not thought of highly in the community and;

• Shortage of qualified teachers resulting in a limited number of programs being offered.

We doubt any of the challenges highlighted above, which have become roadblocks to the offering of T.V.E.T. programs in secondary schools were tackled by the former Administration until its exit from the Government last April.

In fact with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, followed by its crippling effects on Samoa’s mainly tourism-reliant economy, the socio-economic status of hundreds of families in Samoa has deteriorated in the last 18 months to impact negatively on the education of our children. 

Therefore, the appeal by the Sagaga No. 2 M.P. is timely as it puts the spotlight on the issue and should compel the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (F.A.S.T.) Administration to give this priority.

And with only a year left before the current Policy (National Schools Technical and Vocational Education Training Policy 2018–2023 exports), it would not hurt beginning the conversation within the Government on the formulation of a new Policy, which would take into consideration all of the above factors.

We continue to be reminded of the fact that 40 per cent of Samoa’s population are aged 19 and under. 

The last thing Samoa needs in these very challenging times is to have a growing youth population that is disenfranchised and marginalised without access to further educational opportunities.