The local Dept. of Education is currently processing applicants from Samoa who — once all the proper paperwork is processed— will take jobs as teachers in the ‘hard to fill’ subject areas of math, science, and English within the local public school system.

In an initial interview with Samoa News earlier this year, Director of Education Vaitinasa Dr. Salu Hunkin-Finau said there is currently a shortage of qualified teachers, especially in certain content areas. So instead of going far away to search for quality educators, the alternative was to look to neighboring Samoa.

Samoa News understands that contracts for teachers from Samoa are still being processed, and it will take up to two weeks for everything to be finalized. It’s unclear how many Samoa teachers will be contracted with DOE.

Meanwhile, local teachers who are currently teaching these ‘hard to fill’ subject areas are being pushed by the DOE to take courses with the University of Hawaii to further their understanding and in turn, share with the students they teach, “so we can build more capacity in these content areas.”