The Maldives’ Ministry of Education described the digitalization of Maldivian schools as on the emerging-applying phase on the Morel’s Matrix for ICT integration in schools which has four phases (1) emerging, (2) applying, (3) integrating, and (4) transforming. On the Morel’s Matrix, emerging/applying means the ICT provision is teacher-centred, and driven by a few interested individuals. For provision to be transformative, it will have to be learner-centred and promote collaborative experiential learning, critical thinking, creativity and innovation. In transformation of ICT, entire learning community of teachers, students, parents and support staff will be involved and lessons will cater to different learning styles, interests and goals of achievement for children. With this vision of transforming learning through ICT, Ministry of Education’s digital school project aims to make the schools more technology-friendly and meet the rising standards of the modernising world, by ensuring collaboration between schools, businesses, industries, internet service providers, teacher training colleges, families and communities to achieve this objective. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)
According to the latest educational statistics, Maldivian school system currently has approximately 89,000 children (25 percent of the Maldivian national population), in 348 schools, taught by 10,424 teachers of whom, 7458 are women. 22 percent of teachers are expatriates, and 13 percent are untrained, temporary teachers. Majority of Maldivian parents use smart mobile phones, the internet and instant messaging apps to access information and advice provided by their children’s schools about their children, at times with the assistance of their children to access these services. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)
Availability of ICT equipment in schools
In the Maldives, parent teacher associations and private citizens donate ICT equipment to schools, while the Ministry of Education covers the costs of internet connectivity. Each school is required to have a computer lab, and all students are given tablets as part of the model of provision. Children are allowed to take these tablets home. However, there is a severe lack of ICT resources in Maldivian schools, particularly for instructional reasons, such as modeling for the entire class and allowing kids to conduct investigations utilizing a variety of ICT resources.(Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)
According to the Ministry of Education survey of February 2018; 156 (90.7 percent) of the responding schools stated they provide access to computers to their teachers. This meant that 5,932 teachers accessed a total of 1,018 computers provided by the schools. 160 (93.0 percent) of the schools stated they provide internet access to their teachers and 133 (71.5 percent) of the schools stated they provide computer access to students. However, this limited access is problematic because of damage to equipment and the necessity to upgrade them on a regular basis. A few schools stated that the technical support services were outsourced. Additional to minor repair and maintenance services, prevention of breaches to internet safety, will require a full time trained staff member to be available at each school who can respond appropriately and provide support to the teachers.(Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)
The Maldives has two fibre-optic submarine cable networks of over 1200kms each, running across the length of the country, which support provision of fixed broadband and mobile broadband services. 3G to 4G mobile internet connections are available in all of the inhabited islands. The two major networks are owned by the two international telecommunication providers operating in the Maldives, Dhiraagu and Ooredoo. Focus Infocom Private Limited is a local service provider who offers the highest internet speeds in the Maldives, but currently provides their services mostly for commercial use. Most of the islands in the Maldives have an optical fibre internet connection. The speeds served to schools range from 4-5Mbps to 25Mbps in island schools, with up to 30Mbps in Male’ schools. Internet providers currently have the capacity to provide up to 100Mbps in the islands and 1Gbps in Male’. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)
Information and Communication Technology was introduced to Maldivian secondary school students as early as 1986, when the first computers were brought to the country by Ministry of Planning and Development. Soon after, the larger secondary schools in Male’ had computer laboratories. By 2004, computer science was included in the national curriculum and every child was mandated to be computer literate before leaving secondary school. The current National curriculum framework introduced in January 2015 and the Inclusive Education Policy implemented in January 2013 strongly emphasizes the use of information technology in teaching and learning.
According to the national curriculum, usage of technology and media enhances the ability to use a variety of technologies as a tool for learning, communication, and entertainment. Thus, the school management are accountable to include ICT in teaching and learning starting from early childhood stage. Ministry of Education to promote coding as an extracurricular activity for girls.
A majority of international funding received following the Tsunami of 2004 was utilised to streamline and optimize teaching, learning and school management using information technology. A major achievement of the funding was the establishment of 20 teacher resource centres (TRCs) in 20 atolls, with desktop computers, smart white boards, and internet access for virtual learning by teachers. Staff who led continuous professional development of teachers were trained on how to do online teaching using Moodle. The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with UNICEF, used the facilities to begin training school management professionals on virtual learning platforms. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)
The virtual learning program expanded dramatically during the corona virus pandemic of 2019, with extensive collaboration between Ministry of Education and internet service providers. The post-pandemic impact of the exposure to virtual learning and internet access for all of the children to continue with remote learning is yet to be seen. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)
Maldives Education Management Information System (MEMIS) is an open source software system adapted to the Maldivian context and introduced to Maldivian schools in 2017, which is used for monitoring students’ enrolment, attendance and their academic progress. Additional features in MEMIS include students’ health screening data, data on children with learning disabilities, teacher qualifications and continuous professional development, allowing for efficiency in identifying gaps in provision. There are plans to also monitor availability of physical resources through the MEMIS. There is a national policy to ensure all schools had ICT equipment to a nationally acceptable standard, and to have an education portal providing access to quality teaching and learning resources. The Ministry of. education’s online platform, Fila, is a resource repositorythat includes videos of previously televised lessons, and digital resources produced by National Institute of Education. Schools can also share their resources with other teachers through this platform. The national policy also expects schools to draw up their own ICT in education and development plans. (Azlifa & Saeed, 2021)
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