A collection of news-briefs from The Tonga Chronicle, Lao & Hia, Taimi 'o Tonga, Ko e Kele'a, Radio Tonga. For more details of these stories, feel invited to buy a paper from one of the locations mentioned in our Tonga Media pages.

These photos have been extracted from Taimi Tonga's colour edition. It is possible that the paper may continue to publish in colour which will be advantageous for the public. Please buy a copy of their paper so there are distinct advantageous for Taimi 'o Tonga to have more photos published on the Internet. Or tell them how good it is to have their articles republished here on Island Snapshot.

Princess Latüfuipeka Halaevalu Ma'ataho Tuku'aho, performing the opening dance for the festivities. The princess is performing on behalf of her uncle the Crown Prince, who was unable to attend the festivities due to other state commitments.

The entry class of 1962 during the March pass on Thursday of students and ex-students. The class of 1962 has been very active in development programs for the school which has culminated with the ribbon cutting for the new fencing about the school just prior to the celebrations. Appearing in the photo is Dr. 'Akanesi Lutui Makakaufaki (front left) the school dux in 1968 and in 1969 (when the school extended courses to include Form 6 examinations.)

Photo's are expensive on transmission time, and disk space on the server which may be good reason for why we have few photos on our web pages. There's also the problem of getting photos in the first place, many of the photographers at the festivities had not yet developed their films.

[Blatant Commentary - Start]

The school was established by the King's government for the country, and the Ex-Students' Executive Committee recognized the need to acknowledge this fact. To this regard, the Executive Committee nominated senior government members involved from the beginnings of the school, and prominent members of the PTA responsible for day to day assistance to the school, to be the honoured guests at the festivities. Unfortunately, many of these prime movers in the success of the school were not educated at Tonga High School, and more to the dissatisfaction of the disgruntled committee, they were mostly educated at Tupou College.

The school is in continual need of financial assistance for resolving monetary issues important to existing students and without the support of the ex-students the school has turned to its own initiatives and fund raising activities. The toilet facilities do not work in most cases, resource materials/books for students are inadequate, students still stand in the sun during assemblies, the computer facilities initiated by the ex-students (renovations performed by the school and PTA) are rundown, out of date, and insufficient for the demands of the student body (20 computers is difficult to divide among 800 students) etc. etc. etc. As the ex-students governing bodies declined assistance in the students' and staff pleas for assistance, the school embarked on its 'unsanctioned' fundraising. Students, staff, parents and ex-students raised their own funds to send students overseas on the fundraising trip with specific goals for the funds to be collected which were articulated to the government and palace prior to their trips.

In that regard, the school has no inhibitions in retaining all funds raised during these activities towards the projects for which they were raised. The King has already earmarked some of the funds towards new band equipment for which much of the Australia/New Zealand trip was focussed, while the PTA have already unveiled a new computing facility, bought a tour bus for transporting students caught at school after public transport has stopped (5:00pm) a common enough event, and continue to fund the purchase of new text books for students to use in Economics, Accounting and the sciences.

It is unfortunate that a few have attempted to cloud, confuse and polarize others during a time of festivities that should have focussed on the benefits the school has provided for the community.. Those who support the school will continue to support the school's view, those who support the few ex-students discontented with the system will continue to support that view.

Tonga High School is a living monument to the vision of Tonga's leaders for an institution focussed on academic excellence as a necessary tool for national development. This has been realized in the many academically qualified leaders now employed by the government who began their training at Tonga High School. But, this is not the only monument to which Tonga High School stands. Tonga High School also stands as a living monument to the sacrifices a people makes for an elite few in the hope that together the nation will be better off in a planned/centralized development programme in deference to ad-hoc insular school systems apparently prevalent at the time.

Government schools, especially Tonga High School, has eaten up most of the resources available for education. Direct funding from the government caters for the few students at THS in deference to the overwhelming majority of the populace educated by churches. External studies, scholarships have been earmarked, allocated to THS students and staff to ensure THS remains the controlled, elite education system.

For all its benefits and shortcomings, Tonga High School is a living monument to the vision of its leaders, and to sacrifices of its people, that Tonga is better off because of the school.

[Blatant Commentary - Stop]

[ref: http://www.tongatapu.net.to]
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