Office of the Ombudsman, Samoa‘s National Human Rights Institution Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child – September 2015 6.2 Respect for the views of the child 25. As mentioned above, the Fa’asamoa, or Samoan way of life, plays a pivotal role in the typical Samoan way of living and a seminal role in the upbringing of a child. 26. In reference to the misconceptions outlined in paragraphs 13 to 14, the community are reluctant to enforce human rights, and specifically child‘s rights, because they believe that human rights give the child the right to talk back to parents and misbehave. It is the traditional status of a Samoan child to listen and obey his/her parents without talking back. However, as is provided in Article 12 of the Convention, children have the rights to express their views in all matters affecting them. 27. It is the view of the NHRI that more work needs to be done in collaboration with relevant government Ministries and NGO‘s to dispel the misconceptions that surround children‘s rights, especially the child‘s right to be heard under Article 12 of the Convention. See recommendation 1 7 Education 28. The NHRI welcomes efforts by the Samoan Government since the last periodic review in addressing the issue of reducing drop-out rates amongst compulsory school-aged children. 29. The Samoan Government, with assistance from the Australian and New Zealand governments, introduced the Samoa School Fee Grant Scheme (SSFGS) which replaced school fees levied on children, parents and their guardians, with a government-administered grant scheme. This scheme has addressed some of the Committee‘s concerns in its 2006 Concluding Observations.14 For example, Samoa is on track to meet Millennium Goal No. 2 in achieving universal compulsory primary education with the national schooling participation rate for children aged 5-14 above 90% since 2005.15 30. Yet, Samoa currently has a reservation under Article 28 of the Convention. At the time of making the reservation, the government claimed that ‗the greater portion of schools within Samoa that provide primary education are controlled by bodies outside the control of the government‘. The bodies which the Government referred to are church schools and theological colleges which set their own tuition fees. However, the fees of these bodies now come under the 14 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations, Samoa, 16 October 2006, CRC/C/WSM/CO/1, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/45c30bc00.html [accessed 7 September 2015] 15 http://www.ws.undp.org/content/samoa/en/home/mdgoverview/overview/mdg2/ [accessed 2 September 2015]. See also s 4-5 of the Education Act 2009 which ensures compulsory enrolment for children ages 5-14. Failure to enrol a child into school could result in the carer of the child receiving a maximum fine of $5000 WST ($1910 USD) 11