A crowd of close to 1000 students, teachers, school inspectors and parents travelling from Savaii and around Upolu packed the EFKS Tupulaga Hall in Sogi on the 13th of November for the SSILNaS prizegiving. This was one of the biggest crowds that ever attended this event since its launch in 2017 as SSILNaS, when Science and Mathematics were added to the competition. Originally it was just literacy promotion from 2014 to 2016 until the addition of Science and Mathematics to integrate the three in all activities of the competition.
SSILNaS is a competition to promote and enhance learning in literacy, science and mathematics at all levels of learning and teaching in Samoa’s schools. The event was organized by the Ministry’s SSILNaS committee in collaboration with the school inspectors. School Inspectors were the focal points at the school districts, mainly responsible for coordinating their respective cluster level competitions in consultation with the SSILNaS Committee.
The SSILNaS prizegiving programme started at 9.00am with a prayer and uplifting message by Rev. Vaiao Eteuati . The keynote address was delivered by the Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, the Hon. Loau Solamalemalo Keneti Sio. “Ia lalaga faatasi o tatou nafa ma matafaioi fai ia maua e fanau se lumanai manuia (Let us weave our roles and responsibilities together in order for our children to have a better future) was his main message.
Minister was reiterating the importance of working collaboratively and cooperatively in all aspects of education for Samoa’s students.
The Honourable Minister Loau Solamalemalo Keneti Sio, Chief Executive Officer Afioga Afamasaga Dr. Kaloline Afamasaga-Fuatai and Reverend Vaiao Eteuati took turn to present a total of 474 prizes to the winning students who won prizes for the different categories of the competition. The total of 474 prizes comprised of 435 cluster prizes and 39 national prizes.
In addition to the prizes for the student winners, the host schools where each cluster competition was held and the school inspectors were acknowledged for their roles played in the planning and hosting of the competition around the country.
Thirteen (13) School Districts participated with all primary schools and colleges in each district taking part in one or more activities. A total of 136 primary schools and 24 Colleges participated in cluster and/or national activities. The number of participating schools included 3 Mission Primary Schools and 2 Mission Colleges.
Over 500 entries for the national activities were received by SSILNaS Committee. The national activities were three (3) categories in both languages Samoan and English at 2 different levels for each language. The categories were Essay writing, Poems and Letters to the Editor.
The cluster activities were 2 literacy activities (book character and impromptu speech), 1 Science activity (Science projects) , 4 Numeracy activities (Math V-Map, Math Mental Strategies, Math Problem Solving and Math Rap) and 1 Design of SSILNaS Logo Activity.
The list of winners of each category in cluster level and national level activities is attached.
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