The Methodist Church in Samoa has approved an increase to salaries of their teachers from pre-school to tertiary level .

The decision was made during their annual Conference which ended yesterday.

This was confirmed by the General Secretary of the Church, Rev. Faulalo Ieti in an interview with the Samoa Observer.

“We have set aside a committee (komiti-tumau) to look at the percentage of the increase for all the teachers in the church especially those teaching at pre-school level,” he said.

“I’m not sure when the increase will take effect, how much it will cost the church but I’m pretty sure it will not take that long for the committee to decide.

“All I can say is that the increase in teachers’ salaries has now been approved during this year’s conference.

As for other significant decisions from the conference this year the General Secretary said it they are looking to support projects already in place.

“We have nothing new for this year, all we are looking at is to maintain many of the church developments that are already in place.

At the beginning of this week, the president of the Methodist Church, Reverend Apineru Lafai confirmed a substantial increase in the offering from its congregation.

“The total amount of the offering is $15,400,000 from both Samoa and overseas” he said. 

“This is an increase of one million tala (as compared to previous years).

The church maintains close relationships with Methodist churches in New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, the USA, the Caribbean, and the Uniting Church in Australia.