Students at the Itu-o-tane College in Savai’i have moved all their classes online as the country’s COVID-19 lockdown got extended by another two weeks by the Government. 

The Principal of Itu-o-tane College, Sale Faletolu told the Samoa Observer on Tuesday that his college is currently using the Ministry of Education Sports and Culture (M.E.S.C.) Moodle as well as the Samoa Information Technology Association (S.I.T.A.) E-Learning platform.

"So at the moment the online [education] is really good, it is an effective way to deliver to the students as well," Mr. Faletolu said.

The only hurdle his students are currently facing with the online platforms are their login details for the platforms which he said will be resolved.

As to the convenience of using an online platform, amid rising COVID-19 community infection cases and the subsequent extended lockdown, he cannot think of a more student-friendly platform.

"Because we now see that we can't even predict when this lockdown will be [over],” the Principal said. “It could be better for the students to go onto Moodle and do their homework and things that are already on the Moodle.

"We did alternatives, we already gave out our [Internal Assessments] to our students so that they can use this time of the lockdown to finish their internal assessment programmes. 

“We already gave them all the packages, we already gave those internal assessments to them so that they can do their studies or complete them.

“And if they have problems, what we do is we set up a teachers and their classes chat rooms so that students can ask the teachers if they have any questions and things like that in their own chat rooms.”

Mr. Faletolu said previously he didn’t agree with his students accessing Facebook, but that changed this year as they want them to access the internet and Facebook Messenger.

He also emphasised that their staff have been trained in using the platform, however, he lamented students’ accessibility to devices for Moodle.

"I know not all students here access phones, I think some of them will be using their parents phones," he said.

Mr. Faletolu also praised the telecommunication service providers for the various data plans which allow access to educational materials, saying that connectivity in their area in Samoa is strong.

"Starting from Safai, Satoalepai, Fagamalo, Lelepa , Avao, Saleia, the connection is really good, the only areas with the problem of connectivity is Patamea, Samalaeulu and Mauga.

"The connectivity of both providers is really good on our side, even the school there is no problem with the connection. 

“We have routers provided by Digicel under the M.E.S.C. and S.I.T.A. project so we have routers and those routers run really fast.”

Pointing out the services of both Vodafone Samoa and Digicel Samoa, the Principal said the services of both telecommunication providers were good.

“Digicel is a really good provider for the school but for the whole district I think both Vodafone and Digicel, they do the same so there's no problem with it connection wise.

"Our staff was given 40 tablets from the Ministry of Education for our school so what we did is we issued some of the tablets to the teacher, with the hope that the rest of the tablets will be given to the students if they request it. 

“if they don't have phones to access at home then they will be offered or given a tablet for a specific time.

"We do have a big computer lab as well. We have 40 computers, all of them are in good condition and you can access the internet as well there.”