Minister of Education Dr. Aishath Ali has stated Special Educational Needs (SEN) students must be provided with equal opportunities within the system in order to establish holistic education.
Speaking at the International Summit on Balanced and Inclusive Education forum held in Djibouti from January 27-29, Minister Aishath Ali said SEN students were first admitted to schools in 1985. She said SEN students have since been provided with education opportunities across the country.
The education minister said Maldives now has at least one trained SEN teacher at each government school, while policies have been developed to include them in the system. The minister said the development of resources are also underway, adding efforts have seen positive developments as the number of SEN students attending both public and private schools have increased, while the drop-out and repeat students have declined.
Although the set up in Maldives has been fairly successful, the education minister expressed the challenges faced by the ministry and other stakeholders in providing them with equal opportunities. She said the infrastructure has not been developed to accommodate SEN students and no proper mechanisms have been established to identify their needs. She also remarked the challenges unique to Maldives as the country is geographically scattered.
In Djibouti, Minister Aishath Ali signed the Convention on Equal Opportunity for Free and Compulsory Education.The purpose of the convention is to improve the efforts of participating countries in providing education to SEN students and getting international support in providing equal opportunities for SEN students.