7 Nov 2007

Samoa NGOs want government to help pay education costs

11:27 am on 7 November 2007

The Samoa Umbrella for for Non-Governmental Organisations, says the government should help families keep their children in school, by assisting with education costs.

The Ministry of Education has put forward a proposal for cabinet to raise the school leaving age to 14, instead of 12.

This has come after calls for the government to do something about truants who sometimes work in the markets.

The CEO of SUNGO, Roina Vavatau, says education will often take a back seat to feeding one's family

"As much as we push it, as much as there's policies - if there is no support by government to subsidise education for atleast school fees they cannot afford the cost of living, cannot afford to put food on the table and they need to survive. If they can't survive education becomes less important. 17 secs"