Teachers with at least a diploma in education would make better candidates for teaching students with special learning needs than utilising untrained teachers, the Minister of Education, Dr Ismail Shafeeu has said.
Teacher training courses for those working with students with special learning needs or Special Educational Needs (SEN) teachers are set to be launched at the Islamic University of Maldives (IUM) and Villa College, in collaboration with the Ministry in September.
The one-year diploma level course comprises eight modules and includes four additional workshops aimed at improving the capacity of teachers and will be conducted in every island with an IUM campus.
However, the former education minister has questioned the effectiveness of a one-year programme to enable graduates to handle and teach children with special learning needs.
Responding to the criticism, Minister Shafeeu said the current shortage of teachers is down to the lack of effort by successive governments to train teachers at a national level and provide them with health and other benefits to encourage them. He insisted that in line with the cost of living in the city, the lifestyle of the people and the geographic dispersion of the islands, previous governments should have facilitated easier access for the younger generation to study teaching.
The Minister also bemoaned the lack of previous efforts to inspire school leavers from taking up teaching, pointing out that over 600 children with special learning needs had been deprived of trained educators.
Minister Shafeeu said it would be better for a teacher to enter the education sector with a one-year diploma in the field than to use untrained personnel to teach the students. He also stressed that there was nothing wrong with starting a teaching career with a one-year diploma, as long as they are encouraged and facilitated to complete their degrees.
The Ministry of Education is conducting SEN teacher training as part of the National Teacher Training Programme. The National Teacher Training Programme is a key component of President Dr Mohamed Muizzu’s education pledges.