Siale Faitotonu awarded NZ Order of Merit [1]
Tuesday, June 8, 2021 - 22:27. Updated on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 - 09:24.
Former Tonga High School teacher, Siale Faitotonu has been awarded the prestigious New Zealand Order of Merit for more than 30 years of service to Pacific education.
According to Stuff, his services over the years include starting a play group at Rowley School in Christchurch and a computer programme for parents in the low decile area.
Around 30 years ago Siale also started a voluntary after-school homework program to help year 3 to 8 students from 15 Christchurch schools to better their education using the Tongan language.
In addition, he was instrumental in the Lea Faka-Tonga being included as a National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) subject and was the moderator for 3 years. He started a course for students from 16 high schools to learn Tongan and gain NCEA credits.
A Tongan radio show Siale ran on Plains FM for 31 years was part of the service where he delivered messages about education from government to families.
But his wife, Milika, a preschool teacher, told Stuff that was ‘only a snippet of what he does”.
“Our house is like a 24-hour petrol station,” she said.
Other services Siale is busy with includes being a justice of the peace, helping with immigration and police issues, and sitting on many boards and committees.
Background
Siale is a former Tonga High School teacher and moved to New Zealand in 1984, where he took up a job helping to build the Clyde Dam for the Ministry of Works. He even worked in Antarctica to build a water reservoir.
He then accepted a lab technician role at Canterbury University in 1986, and is a Pacific adviser at the university and for the Ara Institute, where he assists in improving outcomes and campuses for Pasifika students.
Siale is married to Milika, a preschool teacher, and they have five children.