Making our public schools purposeful

Maldivian Government will spend MRF 131 million in the free give away books and examination fee of needy students for the year 2008.

The mission of public schools must be to inspire a passion for learning and develop the attitudes, skills and knowledge that will enable all students to maximize their potential as positive, responsible participants in our community and the global community.

If our country's national education policy accepts such a mission, it has to instill the kind of values that can pass down such enthusiasm and creativity for learning. In this respect, the public policy of giving away free books to suit a political objective fails to address the major problems within our education system.

Families, schools and their communities are the primary agencies in the education and behaviour of the child. Not only does the family introduce him to the basic forms of civilized living, but it shaped his attitudes, formed his patterns of behavior, endowed him with manners and morals.

It is important for Maldives to have a debate on the kind of values that are currently passed on to the younger generation. What has made a segment of our young people, even if they are a fringe minority, to fight in the cause of terror? Why did parents, school and the community fail to stop such people getting distracted and taking up to violence? We need to seek answers for some hard questions to restore harmony and avoid having to live in fear.

Our national education must internalise the value of education, the value of hard work, intellectual challenge, curiosity, creativity, etc., that will greatly affect individuals' creative growth and economic prospects. And these positive values are, to a large extent, passed down from one generation to the next.