A new bill introducing homeschooling to the Maldives was submitted to Parliament today, sparking an impassioned debate on the deeper troubles facing the country’s education system.
The amendment to the Education Act (Law No. 24/2020), presented by MP Anara, seeks to create clear rules and conditions for families who want to educate their children at home. Presenting the bill, Anara said the goal is to give every child equal access to learning, especially children with special needs or mental health challenges who may struggle in a traditional classroom. The bill also looks to clarify the daily responsibilities of parents, teachers, and school heads, while maintaining national curriculum standards through regular monitoring and assessments.
However, during debate on the floor, MP Ameen Faisal of the Kanditheemu constituency, an opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) lawmaker urged members to put party politics aside and look closely at the crisis inside local schools.
Ameen argued that the Ministry of Education should be turned into an independent body completely free from political interference, funded through its own dedicated budget much like the judiciary.
He warned that schools are facing a serious shortage of teachers, saying young Maldivians simply do not want to enter the profession anymore because educators do not get the respect or care they deserve. To fix this, he urged the state to provide teachers with solid retirement and health insurance packages, comparable to those given to police officers and soldiers.
Looking back at how schooling used to be, Ameen reflected on an earlier era when school days began right after morning prayers with physical education and character building. Today, he noted, politics has crept so deeply into schooling that heads of schools face strict ministerial restrictions even when trying to open up classrooms on weekends for extra help requested by parents and teachers.
He warned that whenever political leaders put their personal agendas ahead of national interest, the education system is always the first to suffer.
