Tag: Education Minister Dr Asim Ahmed

Dr Mariyam Shakeela appointed Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs

President Dr Mohamed Waheed on Thursday (September 12) appointed Environment Minister Dr Mariyam Shakeela as Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Dr Shakeela will be replacing Education Minister Dr Asim Ahmed in the role, which was left vacant following the death of Dr Abdul Samad Abdulla late last month.

According to the President’s Office, the government also announced the dismissal of Special Envoy of the President Adam Maniku on Thursday. No reason was given for the decision.

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O’Level pass rate improves 10 percent on 2011

The Education Ministry has announced a 10 percent improvement in Cambridge O’Level examination pass rates for 2012.

President Mohamed Waheed claimed the results were due to education sector improvements, while former Education Minister Musthafa Luthfy claimed that these policies were enacted under the previous government.

The Education Ministry announced 2012’s Cambridge O’Level (grade 10) examination results on Saturday (May 25), noting that 31 students achieved global top 10 rankings, with five of these students having the “highest results worldwide” in various subject areas, according to local media.

The five students who achieved O’Level scores categorised as some of the “highest in the world” were presented with a prize and newly created presidential medal by President Waheed.

Additionally, 426 students achieved local top 10 rankings, meaning they achieved high scores in various subjects compared to other test takers in the Maldives.

“The number of students who passed five subjects was at 46 percent last year, whilst in 2011 it was at 37 percent,” said Education Minister Dr Asim Ahmed.

Receiving a ‘C’ or above in five subjects is considered a pass.

The the number of students who passed eight subjects increased two percent, from 17 in 2011 to 19 percent in 2012.

Overall 8,456 students in the Maldives participated in the 2012 exams, an increase from 6,100 in 2011.

Announcement of marks delayed

Preliminary results for the 2012’s Cambridge O’Level examination were not released sooner due to “difficulties” in analysis, the Ministry of Education said earlier this year, despite claiming “one of the highest pass rates to date”.

O’Level exams began in early October and concluded in late November 2012, the Education Ministry’s Department of Examinations (DPE) Director General Ibrahim Shakeeb told Minvian News.

“This is just how the process is; 90 days after the final exam session the preliminary results are available. Candidates can then ask to have their marks rechecked, which takes about a month,” Shakeeb explained.

“Students have a week or two to apply for rechecking, once the [preliminary] results are issued,” he continued. “Then the exams are sent to Cambridge.”

Preliminary O’Level exam results were issued to students at the end of January 2013.

“There were quite a large number of requests for rechecking, so it took Cambridge over a month to respond,” said Shakeeb.

“Final results are only issued after the recheck is complete. Cambridge does not release results country by country, rather [marks] are released online, globally,” he noted.

“Three to four months for the process to be completed is the norm,” he added.

Shakeeb told Minivan News earlier this year that the recheck process was ongoing and estimated it would be completed around late March.

Students are currently “in the middle” of the A’Level exam period, which began May 7 and will conclude June 24, according to Shakeeb.

Former Education Minister Shifa Mohamed previously claimed it was a change in Ministry of Education practice for preliminary O’Level results not to be publicly disclosed prior to the final results.

Preliminary Cambridge exam results arrive in January or February, with little difference between these and the final results, she explained.

“Analysis of these findings should only require three days,” Shifa said at the time.

Previous education policies

“The current government would not have been able to do anything in the period of time between coming to power [Febuary 2012] and when students sat for the exams [October 2012],” former Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy told Minivan News today.

“The high exam pass percentage rate is due to what we did when we were in government,” he claimed. “Before us, there was no target set.”

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had aimed to raise O’Level pass rates from 27 to 60 percent in five years by implementing a holisitc educational policy involving multiple strategies, Luthfee explained.

The quality of Maldives school education and exam pass rates will continue to improve if the current administration abides by the policy guidelines put in place by the MDP government, he emphasised.

“There are several strategies which should be included in all aspects of education. Working on one aspect will not improve exam scores or educational quality,” said Luthfee.

“We rapidly established single session schooling for 55 percent of institutions to provide children the opportunity to engage in opportunities outside of the classroom and develop their character through extracurricular activities,” he explained. “This enabled improved student discipline and motivation.”

“Educational standards were also improved, by developing ‘smart school’ indicators to assess teachers, school authorities, and the Education Ministry,” he continued. “Previously there were no assessment standards.”

“Educational management – classroom and school – was enhanced, which included institutionalising mandatory inservice teacher training each term,” he added. “The education system was also decentralised, and school boards were developed to bring parents into the decision making process, which improved teacher and parent motivation.”

“We also supported private higher education and established the Maldives National University (MNU),” said Luthfy.

He claimed these policies have not been maintained under Waheed’s administration.

“This year there was no money to continue the single session schooling,” Luthfy said.

“If they continue to dismantle the strategies we’ve set, exam results will not continue to improve,” he noted. “However, if they abide by these strategies then quality of education and motivation will continue to increase.”

“The vigour of the policy program made the public aware of the importance of education and the importance of exam pass rates, as well as other educational aspects,” he declared.

The Education Ministry was not responding to enquiries at time of press.

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Female participants in Maldives tourism training declining: Four Seasons Hotels

The Four Seasons Hotels group has encouraged the government to promote technical and vocational training “much more aggressively”, while also expressing concern at declining female participation over the last decade in its apprenticeship program.

Four Seasons has graduated 288 apprenticeship students in the Maldives over the last 12 years, with 47 youths completing the latest program in 2013. However, only one female graduated from the scheme today during a special ceremony held in the capital Male’, while two women are enrolled in the 2014 program.

Four Seasons Resorts Maldives Regional Vice President and General Manager Armando Kraenzlin explained to Minivan News today (April 13) that the number of female apprenticeship program participants has been declining over the last 10 years.

“We never had many participants – 5 to 7 per batch – but it used to be easier [to recruit women] about ten years ago. Unfortunately, numbers have dropped,” he said.

Kraenzlin said he believed the declining number of women in the training program could be the result of more jobs being available outside of the tourism sector, or parents hesitating to let their daughters work at resorts.

“We are talking to government ministries and the press to promote idea of ladies working,” he added.

Also present at today’s ceremony, Education Minister Dr Asim Ahmed told Minivan News that he believed female participation in the tourism sector and Four Seasons apprenticeship program was increasing.

“Last year’s program had one woman, whereas two are enrolled in the 2014 batch. This is gradual improvement, although much less than we would like,” he said.

The small, insular Maldivian island environment instills very close family ties, which makes it difficult for parents to allow their children to leave and “stay long periods in a hotel”, according to Ahmed.

“The culture here is for children to grow up and grow old in same house,” he claimed.

“In the Maldives, you go to work [at a resort] and live there. It’s a very difficult thing to get your head around.”

Ahmed explained the nationwide need for women and parents to be more aware about the conditions of female employees working at resorts, particularly in terms of accommodation arrangements.

“It is important parents buy into this and believe resort work is beneficial and reliable [for their daughters].  The other challenge is we have to provide child care and other facilities that will release the women to go and work,” he added.

Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb told Minivan News that he believed women were not participating in the industry because families were adhering to the “past culture” of keeping children at home, in addition to being concerned about where their children would be living.

“Females are leaders in the houses. The men go out to work,” said Adheeb.

“Kids grow up and take care of their parents. In many cases, when boys get married they go to the girl’s house to live, because parents like to keep their daughters with them.

“This is why especially parents don’t want their daughters to go and work,” Adheeb added.

“Radical change”

Earlier this year, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP and Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor told Minivan News that he believed a “radical change to the tourism approach” was needed in the country.

“Resorts must have close-by islands with flats so employees can go home to their families [after completing their shifts],” Hamid said.

Additionally, he believed the response rate for tourism training programs was decreasing in the country because Maldivian parents were discouraging children from participating due to “religious xenophobia”.

Hamid also accused the religious conservative Adhaalath Party (AP) of propagating the view that “anyone who is not a Muslim is an enemy”.

“I’ll probably be the next Dr Afrasheem Ali for saying this, but maintaining this hate of the ‘other’ is very dangerous and not discussed openly. This confusion has to be sorted. It’s a race against time and ideas,” he stated.

Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Adbulla was not responding to calls at time of press.

Public vs private programs

During the graduation ceremony for this year’s apprentice trainees held at Mandhu College in Male’ today, Kraenzlin praised the skills of the latest batch of participants, emphasizing that “the Maldivian work ethic is among the highest I’ve observed in my career”.

“It is very exciting to see what a well spent year can do in the life of a young person,” he added.

“Training young people requires commitment and resources. Resorts taking in the minimum number of apprentices a year and certifying them successfully should be supported, recognized and incentivised,” Kraenzlin said.

“We encourage govt to promote Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) performance objectives much more aggressively. It’s a great system.  In this way hundreds of vocational training positions can be created. We think it’s not that difficult.”

Tourism Minister Adheeb and Education Minister Ahmed also both praised the apprenticeship program for its development of young people in the Maldives.

“This corporate social responsibility effort takes a big burden from the government to the private sector,” stated Adheeb, during his commencement speech.

“All other resorts and general managers should follow the example of Armando [Kraenzlin] and the Four Seasons,” he added.

Minister Ahmed echoed these sentiments stating, “this is an important program for the rest of the tourism industry to emulate”.

Additionally, both ministers mentioned the STEP program, a training and education initiative launched this January for ‘O’ level graduates as part of a collaborative endeavor between the Education Ministry, Tourism Ministry, and Ministry of Human Resources Youth and Sport.  Some 15 partner resorts are also included in the scheme, according to the Education Ministry.

The year long Four Seasons Apprenticeship program was recognized as the Maldives’ first government accredited TVET certified apprenticeship scheme in 2010. Graduates are able to earn TVET, PADI divemaster, or Ministry of Transportation boat driving license certifications, the hospitality company claimed.

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