The quality of education is a majorpolicy challenge facing the Maldives. The country achievedthe first generation objective of providing universal accessto basic education through rapid expansion of enrollment. Asis frequently the case with such countries, the secondgeneration challenge is to provide education of adequatequality. Evidence from a variety of sources shows thateducation quality in the Maldives is weak, and needs urgentimprovement. Learning outcomes in both primary and secondaryeducation are modest. National assessments of learningoutcomes at Grade 4 and Grade 7 show that learning levelsare unsatisfactory. The low average scores suggest thatlearning levels in both primary education and lowersecondary education are weak. There are several dimensionsof education quality which Maldivian policy makers considerto be of vital importance. Among these, the quality ofschool teachers is central to the improvement of educationquality. Hence, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is concernedto develop the skills, motivation and performance ofteachers. A second key policy initiative is theestablishment of a sound quality assurance framework for theschool system. The MOE has developed a quality assurancemechanism, which now needs to be pilot tested, refined andscaled up throughout the country. A third strategic policyinitiative is the development of a system of regularnational assessments of learning outcomes, which can thenfeed into policy formulation and program development. Thesethree strategic policy initiatives are discussed in thesubsequent sections of this report.
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