American Samoa's Governor, Togiola Tulafono, says one way to help stop the number of teachers leaving the profession is to increase their salaries.
In his keynote address at the opening of the new school year, the governor says a major concern for him is that after teachers attain higher qualifications they leave the profession for higher paying jobs.
He says he is looking at introducing a bill that sets a stand-alone salary scale for teachers separate from the rest of the government.
And he says he hopes teachers will be content to remain in the profession and not be lured by other high paying jobs.
"We may have the best of plans and state of the art school buildings, but without good teachers they are meaningless."
Governor Togiola Tulafono says his administration promotes several educational opportunities to help teachers.
