Minister of Education Dr. Aishath Ali has stated the government has prioritised building school infrastructure. Responding to questions at the Parliament of the Maldives, Minister Aishath said the demand for school infrastructure has risen due to the longstanding neglect of the issue.
The minister highlighted that numerous schools have been left neglected with little to no infrastructure development. She said a key pledge of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is to develop all schools to the same standard and the current challenge in fulfilling the pledge is the lack of space and resources at the schools. Therefore, Minister Aishath said the government is currently focused on building school infrastructure, with 169 such projects currently ongoing across the Maldives.
The minister said the projects include work to add 1,068 classrooms, 66 multipurpose halls, and add 255 various other buildings and rooms such as science labs, and audiovisual rooms. She said the government will continue to develop the 213 state schools in accordance with the state budget.
Furthermore, Minister Aishath shed light on the work being conducted to provide a high-quality education to students. In this regard, the minister said the government is working on providing satellite schooling systems for islands with no schools and schools with a low number of students. She added the government has provided opportunities to achieve an advanced level education in all atolls and has allocated funds in the proposed state budget for next year to raise the salaries of teachers.