Maldives National University (MNU) said on Monday the scholarships opened last year to create quality teachers to build the country did not receive sufficient support.
Dean of Student Leela Ahmed told Mihaaru news that only six students had applied for the Education Degree Scholarship despite making the announcement on two different occasions.
Thirty scholarship opportunities were announced in collaboration with the Education Ministry on January 12, 2021. Half of these scholarships were funded by the ministry while MNU would have funded the remaining seats.
However, the scholarships could not be awarded due to the lack of students to start a degree batch.
The scholarship would have provide tuition fee, book allowance, and MVR 5,000 every month as a stipend to the students until theirs studies were over.
Leela said the scholarship did not receive support because it takes four years to complete a Bachelors of Education, and the fact MNU had strict teaching policies.
"A Bachelors of Education (BED) cannot be completed in any country in the world for less than four years. Normally other degrees can be completed in three years. What is being done at BED is that education content will be provided for the first three years. The last year's is about teaching (experience)," she said.
Leela predicts the demand for the course will increase once the Teachers Registration Board issues a license. The government has been working hard to resolve the issue of lack of quality teachers. The first of these is to carry out a study on the situation. In addition, the salaries of teachers will be increased from next month onwards.
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