King’s Birthday and Coronation Honours 2023: Former Raetihi School principal Fa’atili Iosua Esera made an MNZM

Fa’atili Iosua Esera was also a forward for the Whanganui rugby team.

Former Raetihi School principal Fa’atili Iosua Esera has joined two of his siblings as an Honours recipient.

He was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to Pacific education in this year’s King’s Birthday and Coronation Honours.

Esera was the principal of Mangaweka School from 1986 to 1990 and of Raetihi School from 1998 to 2005.

He is a founding member of FAGASA Incorporated, a national organisation of teachers of Samoan, and he initiated Samoan Language Week in 2006.

A year later, he established the annual Samoan language speech contest for primary and secondary students.

Esera, currently the principal of Sutton Park School in Māngere, said FAGASA began in 1991 as a strategy to lift the achievements of Samoan students.

“It’s an ongoing thing. Even in places like Ōamaru and Timaru, there are a lot of Pacific communities there now,” he said.

“For a lot of students, it makes sense to learn subjects like maths, science and social studies in their own language.

“It also helps you to learn English better. Children who speak better Māori end up speaking better English and end up learning better. It’s the same with any language.”

He said Raetihi would always hold a special place in his heart because he arrived there “disillusioned with principalship”.

It was supposed to be his last school.

“I disrupted the system somewhat by inviting the community to be a part of things.

“There was a lot of transparency between me and the board and I was fortunate to have the right board and the right staff when I got there.”

One of his fondest memories was a Mathex competition in Whanganui when his school “stopped the clock”.

“That means a team has answered all the questions correctly. Everyone thought it was one of the prep schools, then they found out it was Raetihi.

“There was definitely a look of surprise on people’s faces.”

The annual Mathex event was a night out for students and staff in Ruapehu, he said.

“It was really good fun, a great outing for our community.”

Esera has been a principal for 38 years, with 12 of them in schools with “barely any” Pacific people.

At Mangaweka, there were four Pacific students.

“Two of them were mine,” he said.

“In Raetihi, the only Pacific person at the school for the first three years was the principal.”

His brother, Reverend Iliafi Talotusitusi Esera of the Faith City Church, became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2021 for his services to the Samoan community, as well as his services to the church and the wider Christian community.

Esera’s older sister, Ataga’i Esera, received a Queen’s Service Medal in 2008 for services to the Pacific Islands community.

Outside of his teaching career, Esera played rugby for Whanganui.

He still makes the trip south to stay in Raetihi, before travelling through to Whanganui to watch the team play.

“When I started playing prop I said, ‘I think I’d better give up this game’. I retired in 1987 from playing provincial rugby.

“When I was playing against teams like South Canterbury, Mid Canterbury or North Canterbury, it would be pretty hard to find a brown face in those teams.

“Nowadays, there are Fijians, Tongans and Samoans. It shows that our landscape is changing. Our education should reflect that.”