Assessment planned on poor O’Level results among boys

Minister of Education Dr Ismail Shafeeu announced that there are plans to conduct an assessment this year on poor O'Level results among boys.

Speaking at the O'Level Top Ten ceremony, the Minister further said that the number of boys who go on to study for A'Levels has also seen a decline.

He said that the reason for this may be unintentional sidelining of boys in the school system, issues in the curriculum or even social issues. He pressed on the importance of figuring out the true reasons behind it.

For this purpose, a rapid assessment is to be conducted this year, he announced.

"Our education system must offer equal opportunities. It shouldn't be one where any group of students end up failing," he said, asserting that the system must be inclusive for all.

The minister said that once the assessment is done, work would be conducted in light of it to bring up boys' results to the same level as that of girls.

As per the 2022 census shared by the Maldives Bureau of Statistics last year, there are 121,634 children under the age of 17. This includes 62,541 boys and 59,093 girls.

Over the past five years, an average of 5000 students sat for O'Levels each year. Of these, 2000 students go on to do A'Levels, of which most are girls.