Has Hopes Of

American Samoa Has Hopes Of TV Station

m Ralph Craib in San Francisco lited States Secretary of the ior Stewart L. Udall told

ic Islands Monthly that

“quite pleased” with Con

ional appropriations for

rican Samoa. is the feeling of my depart ient,” he said, “that Samoa has the poorhouse of the Pacific for years. We are now getting the ients which will make possible mic development, and we be that we can demonstrate to the ess that investment in Samoa ay most handsome dividends.” igress late last year granted a mental appropriation of s4i n for American Samoa. The priation contains about s3i n for construction to replace lated structures and to meet lemands. icational requirements take the ;t priority under the supple ry appropriation. ‘ of the ideas the secretary to see come to fruition is an :ional television station capable wing both the Samoas. Some )0 has been appropriated for a ility study. am of the opinion that we 1 try to get about $1 million iblish a station,” Secretary Udall lucation is the real key to

success over the years for the Samoans. The educational system is now very, very weak. Only a handful of people have university training.

Television would enable us to do a first-rate job of schooling these people.

And it would enable us to do work in the field of adult education, continuing education, too.

“We are thinking in terms of providing schools with sets, then using a master teacher to give lessons to all those tuned in. Teachers actually in the classroom would do the followup training and ensure understanding.

“The school houses could also be

used as community centres in the evening, for classes designed for older people. And television would certainly be valuable to the Legis lature as a means of communicating with the people,” Udall said.

The school system of American Samoa is admittedly an inferior one.

Samoan Governor H. Rex Lee told a House of Representatives Com mittee last year that “we are turning down two-thirds of the students that graduate from junior high schools (seventh through ninth year of school)”. Enrolment in the one high school in the territory is currently limited to approximately 200 students, contrasted to the 4,000 youngsters attending lower schools.

Included in the special appropria tion budget were funds for expansion of the high school, funds for dock repairs, money for water service im provement, and an allocation for new power generating units. “The exist ing power system is subject to fre quent failures and is unable to meet the present demand for power, to say nothing of future demands,” an In terior Department spokesman said.

American Samoa's Governor H. Rex Lee, shown here with Mrs. Lee, has worked hard since taking up the appointment last May, in succession to the Hon. Peter Coleman. Leading citizens from all over the Pacific will have a chance to meet him personally in July when American Samoa plays host to delegates at the forthcoming South Pacific Conference, which will be held in Pago Pago.

TEAL Photo