Government will closely monitor private educational institutions to ensure that necessary standards are being met, Minister of Higher Education, Labour and Skills Development, Dr Ali Haidar has assured.
Speaking during the fourth forum of the 'Ahaa' series, through which the government provides direct answers to citizens' questions held Saturday evening, Minister Dr Haidar said the most important function under the Ministry's mandate is to ensure high quality education which is acceptable to the people.
The most important thing is to ensure that the quality of teaching in all higher education institutions and whether the qualification framework set by the government is followed, he said, adding that the Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA) remains the foremost responsibility of this effort.
The Minister said the government is closely monitoring to ensure that teaching in government-run institutions as well as private institutions meet the standards set by the qualification framework.
“"We assure the people, especially the standards and qualification framework are being followed when teaching in private colleges. It is challenging but we will closely monitor that,” he said.
Responding to a question over the delay in arranging regular payments for state funded degree programmes, the Minister said the biggest obstacle remains lack of documents. Minister Haidar urged students to check the documents carefully before submission to avoid delays in processing payments.
In addition, the Minister said that the government is putting in a lot of effort to produce skilled and educated people in the Maldives adding that a separate initiative is being formulated to offer higher education opportunities from the Maldives for foreign students.