World Bank publishes the report on higher education study in the Maldives

A research was done on Maldives higher education by the World Bank, and the report was published at a ceremony held on January 9, 2011, Monday, at Traders Hotel, at 12:00 p.m.

The chief guest of the ceremony, Minister of Finance and Treasury Mohamed Shihaab did the honor of releasing the report to the public.

This project was started in 2010, and the report was put together by a team of consultants from the World Bank. The major indications of the report are the development of the community in line of modern democracy, the hard work from the government of Maldives to expand a rapid economic growth, and the increment from 6% to 21% of the number of candidates who participated in higher education during the past 10 years.

However, it was observed that even though there are developments in education, more work still needs to be done in order to provide a better higher education to more students in the country. Moreover, it was also revealed in this report that compared to other average-income countries, the Maldives has a very low number of youth participation in the higher educational training courses; among the youth who are 18 to 23 years of age, only 6% takes part in higher education.

In his speech, the chief guest of the ceremony Mohamed Shihaab expressed his gratitude to the World Bank for the help given to the entire Maldives. While thanking for the input by the World Bank in the expanding of higher education, he also requested them to work on increasing the number of youth participation in higher education.

The Minister of Education Sifa Mohamed pointed out in her speech that the reason for choosing foreign countries for higher education by Maldivians is mainly due to the unavailability of those opportunities in the country, and that this is an issue which needs to be solved. She also thanked to the World Bank as well as the associates of the higher education study for such a great analysis.

The ceremony was completed by a vote of thanks given by Fathimath Amira, the Director General for Department of Higher Education.