Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Ahmed Mahloof has said that there is still much work to be done for the development of the youth. He made the statement while speaking at the official function held at the Maldives Centre for Social Education (MCSE) to mark National Youth Day.
Speaking at the function, Minister Mahloof said the ministry is a bridge connecting the youth and that various government ministries share a large part of the work related to youth development. He said that the majority of the efforts made by the ministries for the development of the country are dedicated to the youth.
Furthermore, Minister Mahloof said the youth have a large percentage of the educational opportunities, employment and development activities provided by the government, including the National Apprenticeship Programme for more than 20,000 youth, more than 15,000 students have the opportunity to study for free degrees, develop state-of-the-art sports facilities, loans worth USD31 million for small and medium enterprises (SME), 1,103 education opportunities from abroad for teachers, and 25,178 educational training programmes for employees. He said the establishment of sports facilities and more than 500 youth development projects show the importance given by the government to the development of the youth. In addition, he said more than 800 youth have been given opportunities in the National Apprenticeship Programme.
The youth ministry and Maldives National University (MNU) have also conducted a study on the importance of youth development. However, there are still many things that need to be done for the development of the youth. The ministry said that important changes will be made in the future in light of the study.