PRESS RELEASE : IMPORTANT NOTICE ON STATUS AND PAYMENT OF TEACHERS REGISTRATION FEES

Developments on teacher registration have been on-going since the establishment of Samoa Teachers Council (STC) in 2019. The Council’s mandate under the Teachers Act 2016, is to regulate teachers registration. To date, STC has confirmed a total of 1024 teachers qualify for Full Teacher Registration. This number is inclusive of ECE teachers, primary and secondary from all schools including government, mission and private.

Teachers’ applications for registration were rigorously assessed by the Teachers Council, which consists of 14 members, representing ECE, private, government, the community and Head of Agencies including MESC, SQA and the NUS Faculty of Education (FOE) Dean. Criteria for both full teacher and temporary registration are regulated under the Teachers Act 2016, all of which are to be met by teachers.

Registrating and providing teaching licences for the first group of teachers is a milestone in the history of Education in Samoa. This effort will contribute greatly to improving teacher quality in our efforts to ensure improvements in students’ achievement across all levels of education. Teachers who do not meet the criteria for either full or temporary registration will not be able to teach in schools.

Plans to officially issue Teachers License and Teachers Registration Certificate is now going ahead with a scheduled plan (attached) for teachers to pay their fees. Letters to inform individual teachers on the status of their application are now disbursed to schools.

The Teachers Council would like to congratulate all teachers who have been approved to be registered and licenced in this first round. You are urged to take notice of the following process for paying the prescribed fee(s).

In pursuant to the Teachers Act 2016, a person qualified for full registration if he/she fulfills the requirements of full registration category stated by the Act. He/she is also required to pay the prescribed fee(s) for having successfully qualified as a full registered teacher. The fees must be paid to the cashier of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture that will be opened for UPOLU from Monday 9th – Friday 20th November 2020 and for SAVAII from Monday 16th – Friday 20th November 2020.

You are required to pay the amount of $150.00 for full registration and issuance of registration certificate plus the Teaching license before end of business on Friday 20th November, 2020.   

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Litea Aleni and Regina Kelekolio of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Review Division (MERD) through email l.aleni@mesc.gov.ws (Litea Aleni) and r.kelekolio@mesc.gov.ws (Regina Kelekolio) on telephone number 64601/ 64600.

Faafetai lava,

Afamasaga Dr. Karoline Afamasaga Fuatai

Chief Executive Officer

Written by