Maldives

Ministry of Education; Educational Development Centre, Institute for Teacher Education; Non-Formal Education Centre; United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The project was a continuation of the Population Education programme first introduced into the Maldives in 1984 with financial assistance from UNFPA. It was undertaken to contribute to the realization of the goal of maintaining a favourable balance of population growth and socio-economic development through Population Education and to strengthen national capabilities both institutional and technical, which would help in expediting the progress of institutionalizing Population Education in the school system. The project was conducted over a two-year period (1995 – 1996). UNFPA contributed US $215,234.

The project seeks to address capacity building as a cross cutting concern.

• Established a Population Education Unit in the Ministry of Education.

• Strengthened the capabilities of the Educational Development Centre, Institute for Teacher Education and Non-Formal Education Centre, in planning and implementing the Population Education activities in the formal and non-formal education sectors.

• Finalized textual material for Grade 3 for integration into the environmental studies’ textbooks, and printed supplementary Population Education material for grades 8 to 10. Furthermore, a Question Bank for grades 8 – 10 was developed.

• Developed in-service training package for Teachers of grades 11 and 12 and teaching materials.

• Trained teacher educators, and upgraded the skills in Population Education teaching of secondary school teachers of Dhivehi and Islam and higher secondary school teachers of all subjects; provided orientation to Headmasters/Principals of Secondary Schools and School Supervisors in Population Education.

• Completed the preparatory work including identification and training of functionaries for Population Education in the Non-formal sector.

• Raised awareness on population issues among the school children, teachers, parents and the community through co-curricular activities such as essay competitions and parent/teacher meetings in schools.

• Conducted a Knowledge, Attitude and Belief (KAB) survey.

Through development of textual material, teacher training and extra curricula activities, Population Education has now become an integral part of the education system of the Maldives; and awareness created among the students through formal education and in the community through the non-formal education programme.

The project also recognized the importance of having measurable and achievable targets as all the objectives were completed successfully unlike previous phases. This proved that in the Maldives the project has further strengthened the capabilities of the agencies concerned and that they are ready to take on additional responsibilities. Furthermore, the pilot project of the Non-Formal sector realized the potential for awareness creation through population education in the non-formal sector and the need for a full-fledged project in this area.

Ministry of Education
Gazhee Building Male’
Maldives.