Minister of Education Dr. Aishath Ali has revealed that significantly more secondary school students have passed five compulsory subjects compared to the previous year. She made the remark at the Parliament of the Maldives.
Speaking at the sitting, Minister Aishath refuted the claim that the number of secondary school students who passed five compulsory subjects have decreased by 50%. She said that the administration has been maintaining and publishing the statistics of all students since taking office. She also revealed that statistics recorded prior to 2019 accepted students who have passed five subjects even if they were not all compulsory subjects.
Additionally, Minister Aishath said that students could drop all but two subjects of their choice from the O’level and Secondary School Certificate (SSC) subjects and that Bachelor of Technology (B-Tech) students could drop all the subjects except one of their choice for the examinations. She said that the statistics did not show a real representation as they only included students who took five subjects, off-rolling those who did not, making the percentage larger.
As such, Minister Aishath said that the administration brought changes when it took office, including requiring students to take five subjects. She said that the results for Dhivehi, Islam, English, and mathematics subjects were declining but that the ministry has made them compulsory except in special circumstances, which has resulted in significant improvement in the number of students who pass.