By Martha Taumata Faavae
The Minister of Education, Loau Keneti Sio, is insisting there should be no excuse for students out of uniform at the start of school.
Parents back to school preparations for the children are uncertain after a major order of ready-made uniforms by a local importer failed to arrive.
The cargo vessel that was supposed to ship in the order of uniforms was denied port entry in Apia for health reasons.
One of the sailors on board was confirmed to be a carrier of the COVID-19 virus, it forced the vessel to sail past Apia without unloading its cargo.
But the Education Minister Loau is not ready to accept children starting school without uniforms because parents left their shopping to the last minute.
His advice is for parents to look around other shops for materials to sew the children’s uniforms rather than wait for the next shipment of ready-mades scheduled to arrive in March.
By the same token, Loau is calling on school principals and teachers to be more lenient with students who turn up without uniforms.
“I’m aware that many of the schools are having problems with uniforms for now but it should not be an excuse for children to arrive without required school wear,” he said.
Many of the parents are being told they are only allowed to buy one set of ready-made uniforms from the Apia uniform provider that was unable to take delivery of its recent shipment of school uniforms.
Rosalina Eteuati is one of the mothers with three children attending primary school, caught out by the shop restrictions.
She accepts the health concerns that prevented the shipment from being unloaded but is struggling to find the right material in other shops to sew her children’s uniform.
Susana Leilua of Vaitele-uta is going through the same problem with her children as well.
The Chairman of NEOC, Agafili Shem Leo, confirmed the decision to deny entry to the vessel for health protection from the COVID-19.
The vessel was on its way to Apia from American Samoa when NEOC learned from the local shipping agent there was a confirmed case of the pandemic virus carrier on board.
Agafili said they were not informed of a carrier who tested positive after the vessel left American Samoa.
Still it was better safe than sorry despite the disruptions to the back to school preparations for the children at the start of the term for the New Year.
