The Adhaalath Party is to take urgent action against the government’s decision to provide secondary and primary education at the main schools in Male’.
Mixing genders and various age-groups will lead to social and disciplinary problems, Adhaalath foresees.
At an urgent meeting held last night, Adhaalath declared the Education Ministry’s decision to provide both primary and secondary education at all main schools in Male’ as “wrongful”.
According to Adhaalath, it is one of many such “wrongful decisions” that include “making Islam and Dhivehi optional subjects”, and “differential treatment against Arabiyya School”.
Changing the boys-only Majeediyya School and the girls-only Ameeniyya School to mixed-gender schools is the latest among the line of “wrongful decisions” that, Adhaalath said, involved misleading parents and working against the management of schools.
“Unisex schools and mixing different age groups could lead to potential social and discipline issues”, Adhaalath said. The party has decided to meet the government’s concerned authorities first and issue a press statement using information from surveys conducted by Americans and Western countries on co-education.
Adhaalath’s urgent action would involve bring the issue to the attention of parents and meeting political parties, NGOs and Parent Teacher Associations (PTA).
Deputy Minister of Education Dr Abdulla Nazeer said the ministry has not decided to mix female and male students in the secondary grades.
“But we have decided to establish primary grades in all the schools,’’ Nazeer said. ‘’So Majeediyya School, Dharumavantha, Ameeniyya and Hiriya will no longer be solely for Secondary education.’’
Secondary education will be provided in all the primary schools as well.
‘’It is in the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) manifesto to change every school to a place where secondary and primary grades are available and to change all schools to one session.’’
Currently only male students can join Majeediyya and Dharumavantha while only females can join Ameeniyya and Hiriya school. They teach grade eight, nine and ten, the final three years leading up to GCE O’Levels.
A report by the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) into Lale Youth International School on Hulhumale has recommended that the Education Ministry terminate its contract with Maldives-registered company Biz Atoll Pvt Ltd to manage Lale Youth International School, “and hand over management as soon as possible to a qualified party.
The Commission’s investigation had found that students had been “physically and psychologically abused, discriminated against and bullied,” the report stated, recommending “that police should investigate the physical and psychological abuse going on at the school as an urgent concern,” and “separate those suspected of physical abuse from the school’s students until the police investigation is concluded.”
The report also questioned the educational standards of the private school, observing that despite the “high fees” charged for students to attend, the school “has no laboratory for students preparing for the IGCSE” in 2011, the library “does not have books that students need”, and most of the Turkish teachers “do not know English and are therefore unable to teach.”
The government-run Fareediyya School was handed to Biz Atoll and a group of philanthropic Turkish businessmen in 2008, under an agreement made between Biz Atoll and the Education Ministry during the former administration.
In May this year, Minivan News reported concerns raised by parents and staff that the school was being used as ‘a front’ for other activities, highlighting anomalies such as ‘phantom’ foreign teachers who were being paid but had never reported to work, students being charged an assortment of fees arbitrarily, teachers with missing or fraudulent qualifications, and significant pay discrepancies between Turkish and other foreign staff.
Shortly after the Minivan News report was published, (now former) Principal of Lale Serkan Akar attempted to leave the country, leading to the confiscation of his passport. On a second attempt to leave he was taken into police custody and is currently in the criminal court facing assault charges for allegedly strangling and whipping a child with a belt, charges he has denied.
Since the story was published, Minivan News has learned that website has been blocked the school’s web filter.
The HRCM report also recommended that the school move to “dismiss employees with criminal records” and amend the school’s child protection policy to ensure that “inappropriate persons” did not work with students, and amend employment contracts “to allow adequate disciplinary action” against those suspected of physical abuse.
HRCM further recommended that Biz Atoll immediately submit the credentials of foreign teachers to the Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA) for approval, and stipulate that foreign teachers present certification of English qualification such as IELTS or TOEFL – and dismiss those teachers who did not meet the criteria listed in regulations governing private schools.
HRCM also suggested that the school establish a laboratory and library as required in its agreement with the Education Ministry, and hire a full-time librarian. It should also “immediately cease the practice of giving the same examination paper to students until they pass” and “stop charging additional fees other than those set by the Ministry” while ensuring that those fees “are commensurate to the quality of education offered.”
The HRCM report also raised concerns about the school’s adherence to employment practices in the Maldives, noting “allegations of discrimination and mistreatment of Asian and Maldivian staff”. It recommended the school establish both a school board, as required by law, and a mechanism for teachers to resolve employment issues.
HRCM also recommended the school formulate a pay scheme in accordance with employment laws “to eliminate discrimination and ensure fairness and transparency”, as well as “reimburse employees if a deposit has been subtracted from their salaries to allow them to keep their passports.”
Furthermore, the Education Ministry should formulate regulations governing international schools “to ensure supervision and monitoring by the ministry as a regulatory body”, and “establish guidelines to conduct follow-ups to supervision reports.”
“As the school was not handed over to the proprietor in a transparent manner and because the Education Ministry has not undertaken adequate efforts to improve matters at the school, and since corruption has been noted, these cases should be investigated,” HRCM’s report concluded.
HRCM has recommended the government repossess Lale School from Biz Atoll
Response
Managing Director of Biz Atoll, Abdulla Jameel, said the company had read the report “and are reviewing the necessary actions we have to take.”
“We will bring changes to the school,” he promised, noting that a new principal would be starting “quite soon”.
The arrangement with the Turkish funders of the school would “definitely” continue, he noted.
Regarding HRCM’s recommendation that the school be repossessed from Biz Atoll and given to “a qualified party”, Jameel said the decision was “up to the government”.
“I respect the professional work of HRCM, but at the same time I’m disappointed it has mentioned nothing positive about the school,” he said, noting its reputation for “academic excellence.”
“Given the opportunity, we will continue to manage the school and try our best to make it the number one school in the Maldives.”
Jameel would not comment on the child abuse case pending against the former principal Akar.
Deputy Minister of Education Dr Abdullah Nazeer said the Education Ministry “received the report on Thursday” and was now seeking legal advice from the Attorney General’s office concerning the repossession of the school.
“We don’t agree with all the findings [in the HRCM report] – there are certain issues we need to refute from the ministry’s side, and we have communicated this in writing,” he said. “It was very unfortunate the report was not amended [before it was released].”
“The word used repeatedly to describe the Education Ministry is ‘irresponsible’,” he said, “[but] we were the ones who first contacted police, and based on that HRCM investigated the school.”
Police had yet to find evidence to support any allegations of abuse, he claimed.
The report was critical of the ministry’s decision to review the contract with Biz Atoll during the investigation, Dr Nazeer noted.
“We added amendements to the earlier contract (requesting a new principal in three months and including a termination clause),” he explained.
There were only “very general written regulations” governing the ministry’s role in supervising privately-owned and operated schools, he noted. “The regulations do not specifically say the government should intervene,” he said.
The Education Ministry was already seeking to resolve the employment issues at the school Dr Nazeer said, and had sent a letter to Biz Atoll on the subject
“We also had a complaint from a parent that the former Principal [Serkan Akar] was still accessing the school grounds,” he said. “We also wrote a letter to Biz Atoll saying it was not appropriate for a person currently involved in a court case concerning child abuse to be accessing the school.”
Dr Nazeer also noted that a delegation of officials from the Turkish government and the business community, had arrived in the Maldives and was currently meeting members of parliament to discuss the matter together with the the Turkish Consular General in Male’.
“I can’t comment on the delegation as I am yet to have a meeting with them,” Dr Nazeer said. “I don’t know what they will discuss.”
“As far as we are concerned, we are waiting for the Attorney General’s office to determine the gravity of the findings in the report, and if they agree, provide advice for terminating the contract.”
Download the full HRCM investigation report (Dhivehi)
A group of Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) have raised concerns over a Dhivehi teacher who was transferred to Hiriya school, after he was found innocent in a court case concerning possession of pornographic images.
Hiriya school is an all-female secondary grade school which officially opened last year.
Director General of the Education Ministry Mohamed Saeed said that the PTAs of many schools in Male’ met with the Ministry yesterday to “express concern”.
”He worked in Dharumavantha School last year as a Dhivehi teacher and was transferred to Hiriya School along with some other teachers,” said Saeed. ”Ever since he was transferred we have received complaints from parents.”
”The teacher was suspended during the case and the court ruled that we should restore his job,” Saeed said.
He emphasised that the teacher had been found innocent, but parents remained concerned about the allegations.
”They said they did not like a man who had allegations of this kind against him to face the students everyday,” he said. ”Because of this issue he has not started working at the school but he remains officially registered as a teacher at Hiriya.”
He said that the PTAs were trying to prevent the teacher from working at the school.
Ahmed Riyaz, President of Hiriya School PTA, told Minivan News that parents were concerned that pornographic pictures of the teacher had been exposed “and everybody knows that”, despite the court ruling he was innocent.
”Courts do not always punish criminals,” claimed Riyaz. ”The court ruled that the pictures were not produced or leaked by [the teacher] – we do not know from the ruling whether it was him in the picture,” he added.
Riyaz said that as the school contained “a mixture of disciplined and undisciplined students”, there might be students “who would tease him by [spreading] the pictures and consequently get punished for it, which might disrupt the education of the student.”
Riyaz claimed Permanent Secretary for the Education Ministry Amand Ali “is the only one who is pressuring the school to have this teacher in Hiriya. She had sent letters to the Hiriya school principal demanding the teacher be allowed to work.”
He further alleged the Dhivehi teacher was transferred because he was “embarrassed to face students at Dharumavantha School,” and “does not have the qualifications to be a secondary grade Dhivehi teacher.”
State Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has warned on the Adhaalath Party website that making Dhivehi and Islam optional subjects at A-Level would risk “bad effects” to the country.
Shaheem said that changing the subjects from compulsory to optional was one of the biggest disputes regarding the new developing school curriculum.
”In my view it would wiser to instead revise the school curriculum and keep Islam and Dhivehi as compulsory subjects,” said Shaheem.
He recommended that A-Level Islamic studies be improved through the inclusion of topics such as ‘human rights in Islam’, ‘freedom of expression in Islam’, and ‘the Quran and science.’
”It would prove to the students that Islam is a religion fit for all ages, and will lead students to understand how developed it is,” Shaheem said.
He said that changing Islam and Dhivehi to optional subjects was like ”breaking down a good habit attached to the country.”
He said the school curriculum should be designed in a way that would make Islam an interesting subject for students.
”We do not have to demolish mosques because people do not pray,” he said.
The controversial decision to make Dhivehi and Islam optional subjects for A-Level students has sparked a series of protests outside the home of Education Minister Dr Mustafa Luthfy.
Dr Luthfy recently said the decision was not finalised and was ”just a suggestion proposed by the Education ministry’s steering committee.”
The move led Independent MP Ibrahim Muthalib to push a no-confidence motion against the Education Minister over the decision, while the Adhaalath Party meanwhile warned that Dr Luthfy “has put the final nails in his political coffin.”
A bill governing pre-schools has been presented to parliament by Independent MP Ahmed Shiyam and was accepted by all 64 members present.
If the bill is approved the government would assume responsibility for funding the country’s preschools, which are now largely privately operated.
Deputy Minister for Education Shifa Mohamed said preschools were very important as they represented the first stage of education.
But she also noted that it was very difficult for the government to handle and develop preschools at a time when it was focusing on widening the availability of higher education.
”It would be very difficult for the government to handle the preschools as the country’s economic condition is also not very good, and I do not think the approved budget would be sufficient,” Shifa said.
She called on the MPs to include sufficient funding in the budget and increase it as necessary.
Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said the government supported the preschool bill, approved by the majority of MDP MPs as well.
”Every one dollar spent on preschool education represents seven dollars saved in secondary,” he explained.
Parents of Arabiyya School have decided to continue lessons inside the Male’ English School (MES) building.
The school was closed last week when a wall collapsed during a class, and the education ministry made the decision to rebuild it following reports of structural weaknesses in the building.
Principal of Arabiyya School Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim Rasheed said the education ministry gave the school two options for a new location.
”The education ministry told us to decide to continue in either the Ameer Ahmed School building or the MES building,” Rasheed said.
Rasheed said almost all the parents agreed to choose the MES building.
He said the school would be covering the lost lessons by making part of Saturday a school day for Arabiyya students.
”Students in grade 1-6 wil lbe studying in the afternoon session and grade 7-12 students will study in the morning sessions,” he said.
He noted that ”the education ministry had said that they will finish the reconstruction of the Arabiyya building within one and a half years.”
Head of the Schools Department of the Education Ministry Shifa Mohamed said hopefully next Sunday Arabiyya students would start their studies in the MES building.
”We will start demolishing Arabiyya School as soon as we get the money for it,” she said.
The government has decided to shut down Arabiyya School in Male’ after cracks in the building caused a wall to collapse yesterday.
Nobody was physically injured in the collapse but the principal, Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim Rasheed, said two students suffered shock.
He said that the school had been aware of the condition of the school’s walls six years ago.
”The school was built out of granite 20 years ago,” Rasheed said. ”We knew this six years ago and we had been informing the education ministry about the problem ever since.”
Rasheed said the education ministry promised to reconstruct the school but ”have no budget.”
”Senior officials from the education ministry came here yesterday and met with the school board,” he said.
He said the school would be closed temporarily and the students will have to wait until the ministry decides what to do with them.
He said he had recently told the education ministry that the walls of the school were very weak, “and that I would not be taking responsibility if a student got injured.”
Deputy Minister for Education ministry Adam Nazeer said the ministry had decided to demolish and reconstruct Arabiyya.
”We had finished drawing the chart of the building,” he said, ”and will be publishing in the gazette for submission of proposals by those who are interested in doing the job.”
He said the ministry would meet the school board to discuss what to do with the students in the meantime.
”We will arrange it in such a way that they can study with their classmates and their teachers,” he said.
State Ministry for Islamic Affairs Ahmed Shaheem said the ministry was very concerned about the issue and “regretted” that the students would be kept waiting without studying.
”The Islamic Ministry will help them in any way we can,” Shaheem said.
He noted that students who graduated from Arabiyya School “have never taken part in violence or crime.”
”I’m very confident that the education ministry will decide the best way ahead for them,” he said.
The Himandhoo School board of North Ari Atoll Himandhoo has decided the school song will no longer be sung during the school assembly as ”it would be more useful to give a speech by school heads and recite the meaning of Quran rather than singing the school song,” according to chairperson Abdulla Jameel.
Jameel said the decision was made after a meeting with Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and the school’s teachers.
He said the decision was not made on religious grounds, and claimed a news report by television station DhiTV was misleading the public by claiming otherwise.
”In our school we sing a song written especially for Himandhoo Madharusa, but there is doubt over whether our school’s name is Himandhoo Madharusa or Himandhoo school,” he explained.
”We asked the education ministry to clarify it, and then we came to know that it was called Himandhoo School.”
Councilor of Himandhoo Ali Naseer said the school song was no longer sung during the assembly because it contained verses saying the school name was Himandhoo Madharusa and the school colors was red, green and white.
”We discovered to know the school’s name was Himandhoo School and the logo was red,” Naseer said, “but we only have the audio recording of the school song we use to sing. We cannot cut out the verses which say Himandhoo Madharusa and says the colours are green, red and white.”
Jameel said the school might sing the song ‘Lhafathuga Ungenema’ (a song sung in every school of Maldives during assembly) instead, but for the time being had decided to give speeches on the meaning of Quran during the assembly.
Deputy Minister for Education Abdulla Nazeer said the ministry’s policy insisted schools must sing the school song during the assembly.
”As per our policy all schools must sing the school song,” Naseer said, warning that ”if any school goes against our policy we will take action against them.”
Jameel said that the school board had sent a letter to the education ministry and ”would decide what to do when they respond.”
The ministry of education signed management contracts with seven province offices yesterday to decentralise certain administrative functions of the ministry.
Minister of Education Musthafa Luthfy signed the contract on behalf of the Ministry and state ministers for each province signed on behalf of their province.
President Mohamed Nasheed said the government intended to eventually shift all the ministry’s powers and services to the province offices.
Dividing the Maldvies into seven provinces was one of the five election pledges Nasheed made in 2008, a move that has met with considerable controversy in parliament to the extent of stalling it completely in the closing sessions of its last sitting.
Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed said the government’s plan to “wipe out” the atolls from the Maldives by dividing them into provinces was against the law.
”The government is physically trying to re-distribute the country – it is not advisable,” Nasheed said.
Nasheed said the president could name ministries, provide offices and give them whatever powers he wished, but there were no provinces in the Maldives “according to the law.”
Furthermore, he claimed it was “not wise” for the president to beginning carrying out the work of decentralising the Maldives before parliament had approved it.
”We hope the next bill on decentralising the Maldives will include more compromise than the previous bill,” Nasheed added.
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