Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Heena Waleed has raised concerns on how children of this generation show reluctance or have difficulty speaking in Dhivehi language, noting that this is a matter of concern. 

Speaking at the inauguration of the 39th National Speech Competition, Minister Heena said that speech skills need to be instilled in the growing generation of children. 

Heena said that the skill would serve them well in communicating with those around them and obtaining success in their chosen careers. 

In today's digital world, it has become common practice to mostly converse with others through chats on messaging apps. This has led to some children finding face-to-face communication challenging, Heena said. 

"We are seeing children of this generation finding it difficult to communicate with people. We are also seeing children finding it difficult, or being reluctant, to converse in our mother tongue, Dhivehi. This is something we need to think about deeply," Heena said. 

Heena said that the objective of holding speech competitions and other such activities are to encourage children to communicate better and build key communication skills. These will contribute towards increasing children's self-confidence, and build a generation that is confident in speaking in font of large groups as well, she said. 

Such competitions are an opportunity to overcome challenges and build a generation with strong dhivehi communication skills, the minister said.