Vice President Faisal Naseem has delivered remarks at the 5th International Teacher’s Conference this morning at Addu City.
The Vice President highlighted that this conference comes at an opportune time for the Maldives as the administration is firmly resolved to undertake initiatives to vastly improve the quality of education that Maldivian schools provide.
He emphasized the importance of Maldives learning from the methods used by countries which are particularly well-regarded for the quality of education, highlighting Finland, which he had visited in March this year, as an example. The Vice President noted that while Finnish teaching methods are unconventional, with emphasis on autonomous learning and critical thinking over rote learning, memorization and frequent examinations, they have yielded clear results, evident in the high positions Finland routinely achieves on global rankings in the education field.
Furthermore, he noted that the high esteem in which Finland holds teachers and the steps they undertake to ensure that only the most capable individuals enter the teaching profession, for instance, by requiring a minimum of a Master’s degree for even the most basic teaching jobs.
The Vice President also noted that it is paramount that the Maldives’s education system prioritizes providing a holistic and equitable educational approach that is fair to all our students.
Elaborating on these sentiments, the Vice President noted that it is essential that: students who demonstrate academic prowess are provided with a curriculum that is challenging enough; that those who struggle with school are provided with the adequate support to ensure that they are not left behind; and that students with special needs are provided proper guidance and attention. Further, he noted that these underlying sentiments have been compiled into President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s Education Sector Plan 2019-2023.
The 5th International Teacher’s Conference, organized by the National Institute of Education, will focus on Education in the Global, National and Individual Context while providing a forum for academics from different nationalities to share insights and expertise relevant to the field.
