Results for Tonga

Claude Tupou is the new CEO for the Ministry of Education and Training, for a three year term.

Claims about the weaknesses or failures of the old education system are not based on any research or valid evidence, rather it is based on personal perceptions. The latest change to the internal assessment again is a clear example of the ad hoc changes that are taking place where the claim against the evil of internal assessment is unfounded and not based on any valid evidence. - Dr. Visesio Pongi

The All Blacks have enlisted three rugby players of Tongan heritage for their test match against Wales next week on June 11. The players are Malakai Fekitoa (Otago Highlanders), 'Ofa Tu’ungafasi (Auckland Blues) and George Moala (Auckland Blues).

Today a public holiday was held to celebrate Emancipation Day, the day Tonga’s first Christian king, King Siaosi Tupou I officially abolished serfdom in Tonga on June 4 1862. It represented a turning point in Tongan history as commoners were freed from the virtual ownership of chiefs. It is 154 years since the day.

Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva’s empty rhetorics on educational reform is a cover-up for his nepotism schemes. First, he hired his own son as Personal Assistant. Then he created the false alarm with the examination computer system in the Education Department to facilitate hiring his other son and partner’s computer company.

Nauru has abolished its death penalty and decriminalised homosexuality after recently amending its criminal code. Tonga and Papua New Guinea remain the only two countries in the Pacific to retain the death penalty for crimes such as murder, while six Pacific countries still criminalize homosexuality, including Tonga.

The most serious challenge confronting the Tongan society today is the physical health of our people, HM King Tupou VI said, when he opened the 2016-17 session of parliament this morning, 2 June, in a thoughtful speech that also challenged legislators to educate Tonga's children for global employment, and urged them to engage with all stake holders in the economy and not unilaterally change operating conditions, that may stifle growth.

This is an opportune time for us to build education in Tonga based on what we have learned from the great teachers and leaders of the Ministry of Education and the different schools in the past. We must improve education, not destroy it. - Dr Sitiveni Halapua.

Women need to be protected from predatory behaviour in their own homes, said a judge in sentencing Lopeti Talafekau Soafa (18) to four-years imprisonment for the attempted rape of a 23-year-old volunteer from Japan in October last year, at Tofoa.