14 Aug 2013

Several schools in American Samoa unsafe and unsanitary

8:48 am on 14 August 2013

The American Samoa director of Education, Vaitinasa Dr Salu Hunkin Finau, says public school facilities are in very bad shape due to years of neglect by the Department of Education.

10 public and two private schools have been forced to close for a week after the Department of Health found they were left in unsanitary and unsafe conditions.

The schools have been given three months to comply with health standards or else they will be closed for good.

The Education Director, Vaitinasa, says the problems at the schools are down to years of the Education Department failing to perform its duties.

"We need to do our job, we need to be on top of this, we should not have to wait for the department of health to show us how to do our job, it's total negligence, total negligence. I cannot speak for the private schools, but for the public schools, to me it's been years of negligence, years of negligence."