The Government is considering a plan to attract teachers by giving them special financial incentives as part of the national teacher training programme, the Minister of Education Dr Ismail Shafeeu has revealed.
Speaking at the fourth session of the 'High Achievers' Award' ceremony, Minister Dr Shafeeu said the government had launched a special national teacher training programme to address the shortage of teachers.
Highlighting the need for high-achieving students to enter the teaching profession, the Minister said he would try to encourage more youth to enter the profession by offering them a special financial incentive through the programme.
Minister Dr Shafeeu said four percent of the teachers in the Maldives are untrained and working as substitute teachers. The primary shortage of teachers are for primary grades and Dhivehi, Islam and Quran subjects, he said.
"74 percent of the teachers in Maldives are locals and 22 percent are foreigners. We still need about 200 primary teachers and about 600 secondary teachers,” he explained.
He also admitted the lack of special educational needs (SEN) teachers in the country. To address the need for about 600 SEN teachers, a special training programme to train SEN teachers will be launched this year, he announced.
According to the Ministry of Education, more than 600 new students are studying teaching this year, marking one of the highest in recent history. Despite the record number, the education sector still needs more than 2,400 teachers to plug the shortage, the Ministry had said.
The National Teacher Training Programme launched in November last year is aimed at fresh higher secondary graduates under the direct supervision of the President. It seeks to address the shortage of teachers in the country's education sector and increase the number of local teachers in the field.
With a strong focus on education, the government aims to transform the future of the sector through this training programme, providing a clear career path for graduates and helping to address the critical need for Maldivian teachers.