12 Jun 2007

American Samoa highlights need of graduates to return

3:10 pm on 12 June 2007

The American Samoan scholarship committee says it welcomes the government's decision to demand a signed agreement from all scholarship recipients.

The territorial government has announced that all scholarship students will now be required to agree to return and work in the territory.

The chairperson of the scholarship committee, The Reverend Ned Ripley, says it is a big problem and he hopes the new policy will make a difference.

"That is a big concern. A lot of scholarship recipients think that the scholarship was given to them to further their education and then it is up to them to spend their time and earn their living outside, but the return is very very important of young people."

The Reverend Ned Ripley says currently fewer than a third of the scholarship students return home after studying on the US mainland or in Hawaii.