EDUCATION IN SAMOA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18927, 27 January 1925, Page 11

EDUCATION IN SAMOA.

NEW POLICY INTRODUCED. REAL NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE. SUCCESSFUL REORGANISATION. [BIT TELEG H APH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] WELLINGTON Monday. Every child in Samoa has an opportunity of being educated up to the age of 16, and even further if there are signs of special promise, but the main point of Samoan educational policy, as carried out by the New Zealand Administration, is to teach the young Samoan to love his own country and to regard its progress as his ideal. The Europeanising process, favoured by the German regime, has disappeared, and the system is becoming more and more practical, in line with the real needs of the people. This was ascertained in an interview with Mr, D. A. J. Rutherford, Superintendent of Education in Samoa, who is spending his furlough in New Zealand. Mr. Rutherford went from the headmastership of the Highcliffe School, near Dunedin, in 1919, and found that the four active missionary societies in Samoa were almost wholly conducting the education of Samoan children. The Government -schools were not popular, though the Germans had provided substantial buildings and fairly good equipment. The teaching staffs, however, had been more interested in purely academic education, and the special requirements of the Samoans had not been studied. The reorganisation of the education system has been a long process, but it has been successfully accomplished, and all the interests concerned—the Administration and the missionary societies — are co-operating thoroughly in a system which is working smoothly. Education Beard Set Up. " One of the first steps toward co-ordi-nating the education activities of Samoa," said Mr, Rutherford, "was the formation by General Richardson of a Samoan Board of Education, comprising the Administrator as chairman, a representative of each of the missionary societies—the London Missionary Society, the Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Mormons—together with the secretary of Native Affairs, the Superintendent of Education, and a representative of the Samoan people. The Government schools had been centred at Apia, but this was recognised as detrimental to the best interests of the Samoan children, who came from their villages, absorbed a knowledge of English and felt very disinclined henceforth to return to their own homes. Decentralisation was necessary, and above all the Europeanising process had to be stopped. The missionary societies conducted, and still conduct, native schools in all parts of the island. The teaching is done by the native pastors, who have been trained for several years at one of the four theological colleges. These men, v/ho work for the love of it rather than the pay. arc content with a salary of about £25 per annum, and they go into the villages to act, not only as pastors but as teachers of the young. When Mr. Caughlev, Director of Education in New Zealand* visited Samoa to advise regarding our education system, he thoroughly approved of the policy of the education board, and rendered valuable aid in determining the details of its organisation. " We had to think first of the destiny of the Samoan, that his place was on the soil and in his own village. We had to train them to think of improving the village and the living conditions, and to get a knowledge of agriculture. The four missions readily entered into the scheme, and their pastors educate the children up to the age of ten. The administration's education experts are given an opportunity of entering each college and training the pastors in teaching methods. Intermediate Schools. Mr. Rutherford went on to say that after the junior stage Samoan children enter intermediate schools, which have been established by the Administration in a number of centres, so placed that the pupils have not far to travel from their own village. The teachers are drawn from the ranks of the native pastors, who receive special training at the central training school in Apia, to which they return every three months for refresher courses, as well as to a very interesting " summer school " in January, when the fullest discussion of teaching methods takes place. The Administrator often attends to address the teachers regarding phases of their very useful work. There were 25 intermediate schools last year, and Mr. Rutherford expects that the number will increase to 408 before the end of the present year. The pupils number 3000. and when the proposed new schools arc opened the total will increase to about 5000. " Thus," said Mr. Rutherford, _ between the mission schools and the intermediate, no Samoan child is neglected m the matter of education. We have no trouble in obtaining the native teachers, and ihere is a s" "endidly helpful spirit shown bv the missionary societies in Jus system of carrying on the education which tiicy provide up till the age of ten. " How does the Samoan child compare with the New Zealander in mental alertness?" Mr. Rutherford was asked. " They arc quite up to our New Zealand standards in many subjects In some such as writing and musical ability, they are better than the average New Zealand child.