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Maldives EDUCATION
Only primary and secondary education, neither of which
is
compulsory, is offered in Maldives. Students seeking
higher
education must go abroad to a university. Maldives has
three
types of schools: Quranic schools, Dhivehi-language
primary
schools, and English-language primary and secondary
schools.
Schools in the last category are the only ones equipped to
teach
the standard curriculum. In 1992 approximately 20 percent
of
government revenues went to finance education, a
significant
increase over the 1982 expenditure of 8.5 percent. Part of
the
reason for this large expenditure results from recent
increases
in the construction of modern school facilities on many of
the
islands. In the late 1970s, faced with a great disparity
between
the quality of schooling offered in the islands and in
Male, the
government undertook an ambitious project to build one
modern
primary school in each of the nineteen administrative
atolls. The
government in Male directly controls the administration of
these
primary schools. Literacy is reportedly high; the claimed
1991
adult literacy rate of 98.2 percent would make Maldives
the
highest in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
In Maldives primary education comprises classes one
through
five, enrolling students in the corresponding ages six
through
ten. Secondary education is divided between classes six
through
ten, which represent overall secondary education, and
classes
eleven and twelve, which constitute higher secondary
education.
In 1992 Maldives had a total of 73,642 pupils in school:
32,475
in government schools and 41,167 in private schools.
Traditionally, education was the responsibility of
religious
leaders and institutions. Most learning centered on
individual
tutorials in religious teachings. In 1924 the first formal
schools opened in Male. These schools were call
edhuruge,
and served as Quranic schools. Edhuruge were only
established on two other islands at this time. The basic
primary
school on the islands in the 1990s is the makthab,
dating
from the 1940s. Primary schools of a slightly larger scale
in
terms of curriculum, enrollment, and number of teachers,
are
called madhrasaa. During the 1940s, a widespread
government campaign was organized to bring formal
schooling to as
many of the inhabited islands as possible.
Enthusiastically
supported by the islanders, who contributed a daily
allotment of
the fish catch to support the schools, many one-room
structures
of coral and lime with thatched roofs were constructed.
The
makthab assumed the functions of the traditional
edhuruge while also providing a basic curriculum in
reading, writing, and arithmetic. But with the death of
reformist
president Didi and the restoration of the sultanate in the
early
1950s, official interest in the development of education
in the
atolls waned.
Throughout the 1960s, attention to education focused
mainly
on the two government schools in Male. In 1960 the medium
of
instruction changed from Dhivehi to English, and the
curriculum
was reorganized according to the imported London General
Certificate of Education. In the early 1990s, secondary
education
was available only in Male's English-medium schools, which
had
also preschool and primary-level offerings. Dhivehi-medium
schools existed, but most were located in Male. These
schools
were private and charged a fee.
As of the early 1990s, education for the majority of
Maldivian children continues to be provided by the
makthab. In 1989 there were 211 community and
private
schools, and only fifty government schools. The results of
a UN
study of school enrollment in 1983 showed that the total
number
in the new government primary schools on the atolls was
only
7,916, compared with 23,449 in private schools. In Male
the
number of students attending government schools was 5,892,
with
5,341 in private schools. Throughout the 1980s, enrollment
continued to rise as more government-sponsored schools
were
constructed in the atolls. In 1992 the first secondary
school
outside Male opened on Addu Atoll.
In 1975 the government, with international assistance,
started vocational training at the Vocational Training
Center in
Male. The training covered electricity, engine repair and
maintenance, machinery, welding, and refrigeration.
Trainees were
chosen from among fourth- and fifth-grade students. In the
atolls, the Rural Youth Vocational Training Program
provided
training designed to meet local needs in engine repair and
maintenance, tailoring, carpentry, and boat building. On
the
island of Mafuri on Male Atoll, a large juvenile
reformatory also
offered vocational training. Established by the Ministry
of Home
Affairs in 1979, the reformatory provided training courses
in
electrical and mechanical engineering, carpentry, welding,
and
tailoring, as well as a limited primary school academic
curriculum.
International organizations enabled the creation of the
Science Education Center in 1979 and an Arabic Islamic
Education
Center opened in 1989. Japanese aid enabled the founding
of the
Maldives Center for Social Education in 1991. In the
latter half
of 1993 work began on the Maldives Institute of Technical
Education to help eliminate the shortage of skilled labor.
Data as of August 1994
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