The religiously conservative Adhaalath Party has condemned a decision by the Education Ministry to make Dhivehi and Islam optional subjects for A-level students, sparking protests outside Minister Musthafa Luthfy’s home last night.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that one police officer was injured during last night’s demonstration.
”Somebody from the crowed punched a police officer in the mouth,” Shiyam said. ”He was taken to hospital last night but has now been discharged.”
The Adhaalath Party yesterday issued a press release ordering its branches to protest against the ”incumbent Education Minister’s decision to make Islam and Dhivehi optional subjects.”
”It appears that in his zeal to secularise the education of this Muslim nation, he has put the final nails in his political coffin,” the press release said.
The party claimed that Luthfy had told Adhaalath officials in a meeting that he would take the issue to cabinet or parliament before taking a decision.
”Mr Luthfy should have learned a lesson or two from the recent controversy created by the Youth Ministry regarding the venue of Dr Zakir’s lecture,” the party said, “or the controversy about selling alcohol in inhabited islands. But obviously our Education Minister is a slow learner.”
”One wonders what is wrong with these people. They seem to be obsessed with creating one controversy after another,” it added.
Last night a group of people gathered near the minister’s house at around 10:30pm. Riot police arrived and dispersed the crowd after almost an hour.
Luthfy told Minivan News that the controversial decision of making the Dhivehi and Islam subjects elective was not finalised.
”It was a suggestion proposed by the Ministry’s steering committee,” Luthfy said. “It is not even a decision that has been approved.”
Luthfy added that it was not the responsibility of a political party to decide which subjects should be compulsory.
”I accept the expression of opinion in a civilised way that respects the rights of others, others,” Luthfy said. ”In my house there are many people who have no connection with the matter at all, and it is not fair to disturb them.”
Deputy Education Minister Dr Abdulla Nazeer noted that last year 10,000 students sat for their O-level exams, but only 1500 continued with their A-levels. Many others had continued their education outside the formal system, he noted, where subjects were not compulsory, he explained.
The Ministry would ensure the Islam and Dhivehi subjects “are available at every school where students are willing to take the subjects,” Dr Nazeer said.
President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussein Rasheed did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.
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Adhaalaath is terrorizing maldives. And anni keeps shut , its going to be worse than iran. These haabis who have higher education in religious studies does not know to be rational
Sounds like Adalath is right, just like Trade Minister, Luthufee will go, Now President Nasheed is so much in LOVE with Islam.
It seem to me Adhalaths "zeal" to turn maldives to next Afganisthan or Iran knows knows no bounds.
Under no circumstances should fundamentalist mullahs be allowed to dictate what is to be thought in school. First they are going to dictate this next it will be the removal of sciences like evolution that does not agree with their world view.
That is actually an excellent idea.
When I did my A' Levels at CHSE, Mr. Soud (islam HOD) taught us for a few classes.
He made the girls sit in the back of the class because "that is the place of women".
and that's just one example, from just one teacher.
More students should come forward and break the silence. There is nothing wrong with criticizing something that clearly is.
90% of what we were taught was propaganda.
I was never taught Islam as a scholarly subject. A curriculum never seemed to be followed.
What's the point of studying something that isn't even taught properly, that at the end of which, you get a certificate which isn't even accepted at major Universities.
Especially at higher secondary level. This isn't talking about eliminating it at primary or secondary.
I love Adhaalath's almighty untouchable tone.
They have the power and they know it.
They WILL TAKE OVER everything at this rate.
What's even the point of protesting outside someones house right before exams anyways. Shouldn't people be protesting outside the relevant ministry during office hours? What do they think, that the Ministry is like some family bakery?
who the hell do things thugs think they are, bullying ministers? they don't run the education ministry... and people only CHOOSE to study three a level subjects, so if you enforce dhivehi and islam, you take away the choice a student has to pick what they would like to specialise in.
if the adhaalath party had their way, they would enforce students to study an a level subject entitled: "Why the Adhaalath Party is always right and you must never question their wisdom."
first adhaalath was an advisory broad typah thing giving advise on things relating to mosques and quran classes, next they became a ministry , now they organize overseas ppl coming in , and dictate what public functions ( concerts of the sort ) we can have, next they said there was no underage marriage in Maldives, now they are dictation education curriculum. either ther someone please tell min of Islam/adhaalath which areas of policy they could make policy . we dont have ministry of health running airports now do we ? , and yes if adaalath has its ways ministry of islam would eventually control everything domestic and hopefully they wont recruit from outside too :S
Gee as if they teach anything there to begin with...let me see 1 hour class per week. 3-4 month semester. 2 semesters...thats like 24-32 classes an year. (do correct me if I am wrong, CHSE was some years back for me).
Most students skip this anyway.
OMG no wonder kids are using English and turning into Athiest. Go Adhaalath, save the day.
Typical crazy Mullah attitude from Adhaalath. It's quite appropriate that teaching Islam as a subject in itself at this level be made optional.
Adhaalath doesn't really know Islam at all! Islam is present in every subject that these students study. Mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, economics all encompass elements from the teachings of Islam! The whole problem is that the Mullahs see Islam as a means to an end, a political end!
The funny thing is, these same Mullahs couldn't even command a single Member of Parliament; that's how much popular support they have! Go figure...
There is a VERY SMALL but very vocal minority that support Adhaalath and its extremist views.
On no account, should we bend backwards to satisfy these zealots!
MoIA: Do not dare to influence the Maldivian education system. You go on dealing with your Jaariyas.
A-Level students have to concentrate on their other subjects rather than Dhivehi and Islam which rather obstruct them in their higher education than it would help them. They got their subjects up to grade 10 and that is fair enough.
Dhivhehi language you can't use outside Male' seawall, not even at resorts and neither at the airport.
wonder when they'll ban tv & internet
anyway who made adhaalath the dic-tator of maldives
The best way to fight fanaticism,moral degeneration, materialism and atheism is to strengthen Islamic studies in ours schools. The current curriculum should be reviewed to make it more comprehensive.
lol... evolution is no science, merely a theory! If you wanna call your daddy's dad an ape, go ahead. Thanks but no thanks from me!!
We will not allow any political party to dictate what should be taught to our children. An educational curriculum should be formulated by relevant educated individuals. No education can be enforced on to students. Education is a choice... be it islam, dhivehi or any other subject.
Adaalath party has finally become a dangerous element within our society completely disregarding the views of the majority. Who are they fire and hire ministers.... The majority needs to rise against these extremists. We cannot wait for the government to do something..
"Mr Luthfy should have learned a lesson"
Really!? Threatening a cabinet minister?! Maybe not with violence, but it is a threat against a coalition partner nonetheless.
Dr. Luthfy is an impeccable Minister. The only question anyone should be asking is why it took so long to get this initiative in place. Why are we constantly trying to handicap our students and stop thing from performing on the world stag!?
We are such a small country, with such few resources, the one area that we MUST invest in is human capacity! Human development. We need to have a citizenry who is modern, capable, and ready to take on the challanges that the globalized economy throws at us. We need our citizenry to help integrate our small nation INTO the world economy.
We need to have capability, and FORCING students to take Dhivehi and Islam when they already have 10 years of it under their belts is absolutely ridiculous. How does it help their future lives unless they want to become a scholar or politician (or in Adhaalath's case, both).
Do you know how extremism first started to develop on a wide scale in Male'? By people like Ali Jaleel (now dead having gone off to Jihad) targeting students in CHSE. By getting faculty there to help him. And by indoctrinating our youth with hatred and zealotry.
Obviously this could easily still happen if we do not require Islam and Dhivehi in higher secondary educational institutes - but we also need to focus on creating more well rounded citizens. Young men AND WOMEN who are capable of dealing with professional life and who will actually support the development of our nation.
Enough is Enough, and if extremist elements within Adhaalath continue to dictate their policy, they will soon find themselves marginalized and thrown asunder. People within the party claim that they are not extremists. This. This right here is extremist behavior. And Enough is Enough.
we r really tired of this madness.
someone pls get rid of them for everyones sake.
Really Mullah is one such great word you all chose to represent them. Go check out http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mullah
Have you read history of IRAN or Afghanistan or any other country you like to mention regarding Islam. I think you have no knowledge of history of any of the countries that you speak about.
IRAN is "Shia", NOT MUSLIMS (if you consider them as Muslims then you are acknowledging to us all that you are a MULLAH yourself)
Afghanistan was overpowered by RUSSIA at the time when America tried to take over, instead they gave weapons to MUSLIMS who were citizens of Afghanistan (Because they had the guarantee that Muslims are capable and more powerful). Muslims swept out the Russians and the Muslims claimed there homeland back. Now the Americans is pushing troops in to take control of the POPPY for MONEY. Go back in history before 1930 and you will know that MUSLIMS didn't grow poppy there. It was the RUSSIANS and the Americans who cultivated.
And about your misconceptions about Islam http://www.jannah.org/articles/misc.html
You are just a few in this whole world...NEGLECTED SHEEPS
Does anyone know who died and made Adhalath the keepers of OUR faith....
Hello Adhalath...ur "adhalath" aka "justice" is not what we want in our beloved nation. What u preach is intolerance, bullying people, arrogance and intimidating people... that is neither Islamic not Justice...
get off ur high horse and smell the coffee...u reek of ARROGANCE...and there is nothing Islamic about Arrogance...
i hope all the Ministries are not intimidated into submission by these bullies... Was really disappointed with the Youth Ministry being intimidated thru death threats and what not to give into their bullying...
If we can listen to GERMANY(!) on Sharia Law, then why can't we listen to Adhaalath on our education system?
@Ahmed ;
Did you say "There is a VERY SMALL but very vocal minority that supports Adhaalath and its extremist views"??
LOOK AT THE RALLY ORGANIZED BY ADHAALATH ON ALCOHOL.
My dear! Which "small" are we talking about?
I don't think Maldivians were ready for this war. I remember when people were watching the rising sun; the sun that rose upon them with vivid colours, but by mid noon (MIDTERM) got them grilled by invisible ultra violet rays.
Silly morons we are. We had no idea the ozone was so depleted !
Why is everyone commenting against Adhaalath?
Adhaalath is a party that is also a religious organisation. So if there are issues with religion, they will comment and make their views heard. If the issue is big enough they will also make sure that it is properly dealt with.
Adhaalath may not necessarily comment on an issue about making the country carbon neutral but they will comment when it has something to do with Islam.
I am in favour of teaching Islam and Dhivehi for A’level students. There is no need to narrow down our knowledge only to our A’level subjects that are recognised by external universities.
Islam is our religion and Dhivehi is our language. Like it or not, this is the fact. So they should be taught. Most Maldivian students are pretty intelligent and they should find no problem in coping with these subjects.
Maldives is not the only country that has such a syllabus. Many institutions include their language and religion in their teaching syllabus.
Teaching Islam and Dhivehi might sound a crazy thing for some people; especially for those who are not educated in Maldives. But let’s not forget that these subjects form the basis of our values.
@ Salim
“We need to have capability, and FORCING students to take Dhivehi and Islam when they already have 10 years of it under their belts is absolutely ridiculous. How does it help their future lives unless they want to become a scholar or politician (or in Adhaalath’s case, both).”
It is not FORCED. It is made compulsory. There is a difference.
It has to be made compulsory because otherwise no one will take these subjects. It is important to teach them because:
1. These subjects form the foundation of the identity of a Maldivian.
2. There should be a difference between O’level and A’level students (even in Islam and Dhivehi) when they seek work in Maldives.
3. Knowledge is always a virtue.
As to your question on helping their future lives ...
I think the biggest difference will be made on the character and charisma of an individual. These things are subtle and may not be measurable in figures. But nonetheless, it adds immense value to the contribution an individual makes and therefore in building a society.
pin-head musthafa luthfy holds world record for the shortest peroid serving as a minister, and now this time he's been there for much longer than in ex dictator's regime! why don't we get some new not corrupt minister's? it's the same thing over and over again .. please god help us
Dear Ahmed Nazeer, Why do you say "Mr Luthfy" and "Dr Abdulla Nazeer"? I thought they are both PhD holders.
....
"”Mr Luthfy should have learned a lesson or two from the recent controversy created by the Youth Ministry regarding the venue of Dr Zakir’s lecture,” the party said, “or the controversy about selling alcohol in inhabited islands. But obviously our Education Minister is a slow learner.”"
I do not condone the wording of this statement by Adhaalath. But I think a big problem with the present government's decisions is that they tend to forget we are Muslims and that we are Maldivians.
@Asim,please educate yourself on what theory means in science. just because you can't comprehend it doesn't make it untrue.
MDP, get rid of Adhaalath now... your divorce is long overdue.
These are ignorant people who think the way things have been until recently should continue. However status quo from Maumoon's era was all nicely set for political reasons.
If only 15% of O'level students go on to study for A'level, it might count to about 1% of all students perhaps. Adhaalath is to worry about this? They would be better of putting in place a fundamentally strong Islam program for year 7 to 10 perhaps, so more Maldivians would benefit from it.
But then the governmeent which seems and is too often seen faltering could easily be bent into submission by such extremist factions. Just cannot figure out why the heck "Adaalath" wants to demonstrate against another "coalition" partner. Highly likely that President Nasheed is being forced to "sack" the Education Minister and appoint another "of the likes and acceptance" of the Adaalath Party. Anything is possible the way things are going about. As a party member, I do not know what to believe today. One day Hon. Moosa would say one thing . lo then next day its completely changed.
well adalath has no shame and now they are even saying it out loud. they have the power and they have used it and will use it. intimidate people and bully people.
the problem i see is how easily maldivians are accepting or ignoring these intolerant, outdated behaviors.
agree with Hani and Salim. i too studied islam+dhivehi at CHSE and it was a complete waste. the teacher, Soud and some one else replaced later, would talk rubbish for an hour about how to hav sex when the wife is mensurating and i dono what not and leave the class.. i did not need to waste my time with such low grade education in my A'level studies. ALL subjects should be optional, just like every human have a choice on any matter in life.
Please adalath, its not that hard to have a little bit of imagination and self contentment. be a bit humble for once in your life for allah may reward you brothers:)
What the Education Ministry needs to stress and make clear to public is that Islam and Dhivehi have not been taken out of the Curriculum and students have the option to choose. Otherwise the opposition and most of the media will play in tune with Adhaalath to mislead the public.
Adhaalath is very good at manipulating people using Islam whenever they feel power hungry. According to the party, ”Mr Luthfy should have learned a lesson or two from the recent controversy created by the Youth Ministry regarding the venue of Dr Zakir’s lecture,” the party said, “or the controversy about selling alcohol in inhabited islands. But obviously our Education Minister is a slow learner.” How arrogant are we going to let this people be?
Government needs to be more careful about their word choice and reasoning. For example the reason for not lending Stadium for Zakir Naik should have been a safety issue. I will argue that it is not a safe place to hold a large gathering because of all the partitions in the field using barbed wire.
@heck
That rally did have an large turn out. Not coz they support Adhaalath, they were there to oppose the bill.
Same can be said about Anni, people didn't vote him, they voted for change. So get your facts straight and don't mislead.
And those supporting Dhivehi and Islam in CHSE, Just go have a look at what they are teaching. Nothing that hasn't been taught prior. and nothing useful. Honestly speaking, it would be a better idea to force students to speak in English. Atleast that way they are more aware and efficient in the tourism industry.
Protecting our culture is a good gesture, but when you force people into things, they end up hating it. Tradition and culture should be loved to exist.
Dhivehi language itself is weak. It discourages change. We are still forced to write essays/letters the way someone 40-50 years ago used to write. And unless you write it that way, you don't pass. If you want to save Dhivehi langauge, allow it to evolve, encourage students to be creative. And for goodness sake, stop freaking telling me to write essays about whether culture is dieing, how important mother is, or whether classes should be gender mixed/seperate. God knows how many times a Maldivian student write those 3 essays.
God help us all, if nobody is able to put Adhaalath in its place.
They are getting too big for their boots.
President Nasheed are you really going to let this one ministry dictate everything about Maldivians lives?
MDP is to blame for all the mess that this country is in now. President made a fatal mistake of making partners with Adhaalath Party and gave them one whole ministry. The crime rate is at a record high level in which we have criminals of both drug addicts and religious extremists. These 2 types of criminals can easily destroy a country and its economy. To make things worse the government is bringing 2 terrorists from Gitmo who they claim are engineers but funny enough they are not allowed entry into their home countries.
I am very surprised to see the Presidents this new found love for Islam. He can’t shake off Adhaalath Party who are terrorizing this country and now he is brining Muslims (according to him) from Gitmo and giving them homes here. I won’t be surprised if he brings people from Afghanistan here.
Why Maldives law hijack us all ?? Why can't we be free as Americans or other places ? We don't want full of shit from adaalaths or anyone, that keep bulling our daily life.
I truely hope that nasheed and luthfy do not give in to adaalath on this matter. We need strong ministers that can stand and deal with policy matters on subjects that they believe is right... In my view education ministry is taking major changes to an old, dysfunctional maumoon era system.
Robin,
lets put your words the other way round..
Why is Adaalath against everything this government does. And why is Adaalath against Civilization
Asneem
its time to ban adhaalath party. they are taking this country backwards with their "dictating" policies.
We did not elect Adaalath to run this country... Qasim is to blame.. He is the one who resurrected the dying Adaalath to try and win the presidential elections.
Once again. Maldivians did not elect Adalaalath. So Majeed, stop this terrorism and threatening to behead ministers before we start publishing what your supply company is doing to Sunland with hiked prices to gain "Haram" profits...
You will know what I am talking about.
”Mr Luthfy should have learned a lesson”
Spoken like true thugs.
Shall we now officially change their titles to Adhaalath paarteys?
The extremist zealots of this backward party seem to be bent on having everything their way through sheer intimidation and threats rather than any civilized discourse.
It makes one wonder if the almighty sheikhs need to be 'taught a lesson' in simple democratic courtesies.
I'd also like to add that the recent slew of government policies (and regulations) makes it seem as if anybody actually voted for this "party" of bigots.
The people overwhelmingly voted for democracy and the MDP, and now we're practically living in a hooligan-run theocracy under the Adhalaathu party.
@YokYok
Yeah, true enough. Same cane be said of all cultures. Be it forcing to wear more revealing clothes or banning them.
But when you go to the Bank why do you have to produce your own ID card and not your friends ID? Don't you need your own ID? Why are countries called by different names and have unique flags?
Is Adhaalath ruling Maldives? Do we Maldivians have to follow what ever they say? Don't people with other views have any right in this country any more? I see the comments made by Adhaalath as threats to common Maldivians who don't believe the TALIBAN brand. Stop terrorizing Maldives!
@ Ahmed (or should I say Asneem? )
“Why is Adaalath against everything this government does? And why is Adaalath against Civilization?”
If you genuinely think so, you should ask those questions from Adhaalath. I do not consider myself a suitable person to answer them.
I support teaching Islam and Dhivehi for A’level students because I believe teaching these subjects will help build our society, retain our vlaues and strengthen our culture.
Guess what? I too took these subjects when I did my A’levels. Many of us thought we already knew more than the teachers. lol And I know they taught us ‘crap.’
Yok Yok is not wrong in what he is saying when he speaks about the syllabus of these subjects. However, that does not mean they should be made optional subjects. That, to me, means we should make a reasonable syllabus for these subjects.
If these subjects are made optional, it will pave way for our culture and values to slowly fade away. I don’t think I would ever want that.
We are Maldivians and we are moderate Muslims. We should solidify on this. Not erase this. I would not want anything that would change this.
Maldivian children are being indoctrinated from their 3rd/4th/5th year of life onwards anyway and have compulsory religious and Dhivehi education up to grade 10 - so why bothering them with these two subjects during their A-levels, when they are going for HIGHER education to be able to enter universities??
It's going to be optional, not eradicated from the curriculum!
Nobody has elected these guys, so what do they have to say anyway?
We need strong ministers and a strong president to rule this country. Anni, what have you done to us? Is that the change we were fighting for? Now having people interfering our lives who are growing their pubic hair in their faces?
Stand up Anni!
Marina!
Did you say "It’s going to be optional, not eradicated from the curriculum!"
Yeah! First they poison you with atheist philosophy. Then slow death! Then comes the coffin, then the nails. Then the graveyard, and lowering to the pit. And last the magic act, wellah! It's going, going and GONE!
Arabiyya-Kulliyyah-syllabus-secular-going-going-GONE-coming-coming-gay-marriage-CAME!
Come down Anni!
Aicha!
If some one has become too big for his shoes it's not Adhaalath, it's ANNI!
Why? Because his shoes size originally was 25 even after getting some long toes as donation, but now he thinks its size 100!!
Is it Adaalath or some DRP gundaas who decides this. Why not ask the O'level students what they prefer. Looks like adaalath is getting out of hand now which should be controlled before it gets too late. These Sheikh's have become a nuisance now.
It seems that the future of maldivian culture and language depends on a few students who sit A level.. what about the large number of students who ends their education at grade 10? are they going to come out and poison the maldivian culture and language because they did not do this two years of islam and dhivehi...
heck.. you seem to think that the rest of the maldivians who do not sit for Alevel are gamaaru, gali ba eh hen.... emeehun nakee neh bayeh tha.. gone and gone and gone ey thi kiyanee??? kobaa dhen thibi dhivehi...????
@Robin,
I was merely pointing out the fact that due to combination of poor syllabus and the way classes are conducted, most students neglect and give up on these 2 to begin with.
Just ask any student in chse. But of course one cannot allow an young mind with less experience to decide whats good for them at times.
Students who get good grades in Islam/Dhivehi, they are hardly interested in the subjects, they are just clearing an hurdle for government scholarships.
Plus I believe, by keeping it optional, parents should take more responsibility in their students education.
I can tell you a bigger problem to address, tuition. Sheer amount of tuition doesn't make a smarter student, just makes better talking parrots. Honestly, parents complain about quality of teachers at school. If they paid the schools the tuition money, things would be better.
"Yeah! First they poison you with atheist philosophy. Then slow death! Then comes the coffin, then the nails."
'heck',
This kind of chicken-little paranoia infused into citizens right from their secondary schools is in itself a perfectly good reason to bring in secular education.
Unfortunately, secular education is not what the government is offering.
Children are still going to be indoctrinated all the way till their O'levels with whatever ideology their 'religion' teacher subscribes to.
(And I must say, too many of them are religious hardliners who espouse their misogynist cause even in classrooms)
It's only the final 2 years - in this "100%" Adhaalathic nation, with it's 24X7 wahhabi indoctrination on every TV ,book, magazine, Taxi and radio in town belting out the 'True Islam' tune - that the subjects are made 'OPTIONAL'.
If that seems like an assault on Islam to you, then I must say - a secular, rational education could have done wonders for you.
Who is giving Adhaalath powers to spread there extremist views and create hatred among dhivehin? Who is electing these power hungry corrupt majlis members? Why are there mostly corrupt, power hungry people in all the independent instittutions? Why is there rarely a good Minister? Well I am beginning to think that this is a refelection of Maldivian society right now?