The Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) has confirmed students sitting the national examinations for 12 has doubled from last year while a drop in numbers has been noticed for Year 10.

The MEC started with their new system of dissolving Year 13 in all colleges in Samoa.

Speaking to Samoa Observer, Assistant Chief Executive Officer for MEC, Maria Lei-Sam Elisaia said this year saw a change in the numbers of students sitting both the Samoa National Junior Secondary Certificate (SNJSC) examination and the Samoa Secondary Leaving Certificate (SSLC).

She said this year the number of students sitting the SSLC has doubled.

Mrs Elisaia said for this year 4,200 students have already registered to sit the SSLC exam and compared to 2023 there were only 2223 students registered to sit the exam.

She added the reason why there are more students for the SSLC exam this year is because there is no more Year 13.

For the SNJSC exam, Mrs Elisaia said there is a drop in the number of students sitting this national exam compared to 2023.

For this year 3,897 students have already registered to sit the SNJSC exam which is all students Year 10. Mrs Elisaia revealed that some students have dropped out from sitting the exam because they will be leaving the country for good with their families.

The schools are still on holiday for the C.H.O.G.M and will all proceed for the final semester on 4 November.

Mrs Elisaia said the school break for C.H.O.G.M. does not affect the school year calendar because the Ministry has been re-arranging the year-long calendar based on the time for the C.H.O.G.M. 

When all the schools start next week, most of the schools will go straight to final examinations before the national exams the following week.

The MEC has also shifted the deadline for paying examination fees for the national Year 10 and Year 12 examinations to the end of this month.

The MEC found that many parents had yet to pay either the exam fee or tuition fee to schools. The national examinations are scheduled for next month.

The Year 12 examinations are essential for entry into the National University of Samoa.

The deadline for children to register for the tests was last month, but the Ministry changed the deadline to October 30 after realising that a majority of the students had not paid their registration fees.

To continue with the tests the next month, they also pray that the parents would notice this and decide to pay the children's registration fee.

Since there are five subjects to study in Year 10, students must pay $6 for each subject plus a $4 late charge. In Year 12, they must pay $28 for each subject plus a $28 registration cost.

Approximately 40 per cent of students who have already enrolled for Year 12 have not yet paid their registration fees for the tests scheduled for next month.