Minister praises Gayyoom for the revolutionary development he brought to education

Minister of Education Dr Ismail Shafeeu has highly praised former President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom for the revolutionary advancements he brought to education in Maldives.

The minister made these remarks while speaking at the ceremony held last night to begin the 1000 day countdown to Majeedhiya School's 100th anniversary.

He said that educational sector had strengthened in the Maldives due to the hard work and persistent efforts of Gayyoom.

Shafeeu noted that even as late as 2001, most islands did not have the capacity to teach for o'level standards, however, during Gayyoom's 30 years in administration, he had made large investments to spread education to all islands.

The minister said that the most key change that was brought was bringing an end to the practice of expelling students who fail in subjects, and instead providing even them the opportunity to study for O'levels.

He noted that the Education Ministry at the time had had to face many challenges when implementing this change.

"[At that time they were saying] you have put in place auto-promotion. They questioned how results can be achieved, and opined that it would have negative impacts. That the standard of education would become lower," Minister Shafeeu spoke of public opinion regarding the change when it had first been implemented.

Yet the result of the work Gayyoom had done at the time is that today, no child under 16 is deprived of education, the Minister said, applauding Gayyoom's foresight.

The Minister went on to note that all eight presidents of the Maldives had studied at Majeedhiya School, saying that marking their 100th anniversary would be given high precedence by the ministry and the government as a whole.

Majeedhiya School began teaching on April 19, 1927, and is set to mark their 100th anniversary on April 19, 2027.

Gayyoom is the architect behind establishing basic education for all Maldivians, setting up atoll education centres and community schools. Especially highlighted even today is the work done by Gayyoom and senior officials at the time at the Education Ministry to raise the literacy rate in the country.