* The UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) measures a country's achievements
in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income.
Country background
VSO has been working in Maldives since 1981. The current strategic plan involves VSO leaving the Maldives in 2009. Volunteers will be working in education until the programme closes but health volunteers will complete work by summer 2007.
All children (with the exception of those with severe or profound special educational needs) have access to at least seven years of schooling in Maldives. However the quality of education continues to be variable. Thirty three percent of current teachers are untrained, the curriculum is outdated and often not relevant, there is limited knowledge of teaching methods, in particular child friendly methods, and an inadequate system to manage, monitor and supervise the quality of teaching. In addition reliance on expatriate teachers, mainly from India, is continuing and Maldivian trained teachers are reluctant to work in the outer lying islands. Although a small number of head teachers and policy makers are women, lack of educational opportunity combined with home and childcare demands mean that women are over represented at classroom teacher levels and under-represented in management positions.
VSO volunteers are working with the Ministry of Education, Education Development Centre, Faculty of Education and a number of schools and regional education offices to improve the quality of education that children receive. This is being achieved by improving teacher-training programmes, developing the national curriculum to become more relevant, improving the ability of school managers to support the professional development of teachers, and making recommendations to the government regarding the rights and needs of teachers.
In public provision of healthcare, Maldives is now able to independently recruit and train adequate numbers of basic health personnel up to nurse or diploma level. So, after 23 years, VSO Maldives agreed to phase out its current health programme. Until summer 2007 volunteers will continue to support the government to raise awareness of access to health care amongst disadvantaged island communities and to put in place policies and plans which will mean the health care needs of Maldivians will still be met.
