Parents write to Education chief

The parents of some students who sat the Samoa School Leaving Certificate Mathematics exam last year have written to the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture, Matafeo Falanaipupu Aiafi.

Dated 27 January 2015, the letter signed by a handful of parents follows a public meeting held last week to discuss a possible class action against the Ministry.

The meeting was called by local lawyer, Pa’u Tafaogalupe Mulitalo, to encourage parents to voice their concerns about the alarming failure rate among their children.

Pa’u’s child was one of the more than 75 percent of students who failed the 2014 Math exam.

A copy of the parents’ letter has been obtained by the Samoa Observer.

“On Friday 23 January 2015, a public meeting was held at N.U.S to discuss the alarming failure rate among students regarding the 2014 Math Exam Paper,” the parents wrote.

“A resolution was passed at the meeting that representatives from this meeting will write to you requesting an appointment to meet with you to discuss whether or not students who failed the math exam can have their grades reviewed and reassessed within the context of emerging issues and concerns regarding the math exam paper as a whole.

“We are confident that your good self will have the discretion and authority to resolve this matter amicably on balance of probabilities in view of fairness and justice for those being severely affected by this matter.”

It could not be confirmed if Matafeo has responded to the parents.

However, the Ministry of Education has issued a public notice about an open forum this Saturday to discuss the exam.

According to the notice, parents and anyone interested is invited to attend the meeting at the E.F.K.S Hall starting at 10 a.m.

The meeting is an opportunity for the Ministry to respond and clarify any issues regarding the exam in question.

Contrary to claims that the exam paper was not in accordance with the Curriculum, Matafeo dismissed this last week. He maintained that the Math paper was set locally and in accordance with the curriculum.

The C.E.O was asked about concerns that perhaps the students were given the wrong exam paper.

He was also asked to reveal who had set the exam paper.

“I cannot give out the names of the people due to security reasons,” he said.

“However there is one thing that I want to clarify and that is the exam is not set by one person or a ministry.

“The test is set by people like professors and lecturers from the university, teachers, senior officers and experts on Math. They are the ones who help put together the exam.”

He was also asked if perhaps the test was too hard.

“No, I don’t think it was hard because all the questions were based on the curriculum taught throughout the year,” he said.

A Mathematics Lecturer at the National University of Samoa, Dr. Karoline Afamasaga Fuatai, supported Matafeo. She said claims that the questions in the exam paper were not based on the curriculum were wrong.

But a former Mathematics Senior Lecturer at N.U.S, Reverend Vavatau Taufao, is hardly surprised at the recent revelations.

Speaking to the Sunday Samoan, Rev. Vavatau said he warned the Ministry of Education about the issue years ago.

“The Math results for 2014 is not different from the results of the 2013,” he said. “So these results are not new.”

Rev. Vavatau said the problem is that students were allowed to sit an examination that was badly structured.

“The paper is very, very difficult but that is not my concern,” he said.

“The issue is that the content of the examination included questions with no correct answers.

The other issue was that some of the problems in the paper had not been taught in the syllabus. So for students to sit an exam paper with questions that were not covered in the syllabus is unfair.”