Dr. Mustafa Lutfi began his services to the government as a Dhivehi Language teacher at Majeediyya School, in 1975. The dedication with which he served the government can be seen with the fact that he kept a very close association with the education field of the Maldives. He served diligently in the education sector in various posts such as Teacher Educator, laying foundation for the teachers (1977-1979), as a Headmaster in an Atoll Education Centre (1981-1987), as the Assistant Principal of Jamaaluddeen School (1987-1989), as the Under-Secretary for the Ministry of Education, being responsible for educational supervision and co-curricular activities (1989), as the Deputy Director of the Institute for Teacher Education, being in charge of the development and coordination of pre-service and in-service teacher education courses (1992-1995), as Director in the Supervision and Co-Curricular Activities Section in-charge of planning and coordination of educational supervision and co-curricular activities (1995-1999), promoted to the post of the Director General of the same section in 1999 where he served till 2001. He was appointed as the Deputy Executive Director of the Ministry in 2004 where his main issues were overseeing policy planning and educational quality improvement.

Although Dr. Mustafa Lutfi was dedicated to serving the education field, he also served in other areas; as an Atoll Chief for Fuah Mulaku Atoll (1993-1995) and as the Minister of Tourism from 2004 to 2005.Dr. Mustafa Lutfi was appointed as the Minister of Education in November 2008.

Dr. Mustafa Lutfi holds several certificates in the teaching field; Dhivehi Language Teaching Certificate (1971), Primary Teaching Certificate, Male’, Maldives (1975), Primary Teaching Certificate, Mysore, India (1976), Certificate on History and Philosophy of Education, Edinbrough, UK (1979-1981), Master of Education, University of Birmingham, UK (1990) and he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from the Latrobe University of Australia in 2004.

The escalation of Dr. Mustafa Lutfi’s interest in the education field could also be due to the fact that he participated in a number of workshops in the Maldives and in countries such as South Korea, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and the United Kingdom, where he undoubtedly has gained innumerable knowledge.

Dr. Mustafa Lutfi is an example that if a person uses their interests for the betterment of themselves and others, it can be done, for he has published several books both in the local language Dhivehi and English.

Dr. Mustafa Lutfi was born in 1951, is married to Hafeeza and has two children.

Dr. Ahmed Ali Maniku began his government career with the Educational Development Centre of the Ministry of Education as a Teacher Educator in 1982. He transferred to the Institute for Teacher Education in 1984 with the opening of this Institute in the same position and became its Assistant Director in 1987. He later joined the Ministry of Education as Assistant Director and later Deputy Director in charge of the Planning and Monitoring Division. Dr. Maniku was appointed as the Director of the Institute for Teacher Education in 1993. During this time he was instrumental in commencing the secondary teacher education programme with the assistance of an AusAID project. With the establishment of the Maldives College of Higher Education in 1998 he was transferred to the College as its first Director General and became Vice Rector, Academic in 2001. After post-graduate studies he re-joined the College in March 2008 as Vice Rector, Academic.

Dr. Maniku holds a B.A in Psychology and a Teaching Diploma from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon and a M.A. in Education from University of London, Institute of Education. In early 2008, he was awarded a PhD in Education from Massey University, New Zealand. Dr. Maniku’s professional interest is in the area of higher education policy and quality assurance in higher education. He has published papers in this area and participated in related regional and international conferences. He has worked with international organizations such as UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP and UNFPA on various project related activities. He is currently working with a UNESCO team of international experts in the preparation of guidelines for quality assurance in higher education for small states.

Born in 1959, Dr. Ahmed Ali Maniku is married to Ms. Aishath Shakira and has two children.

Ms. Shifa Mohamed began her services to the government as a primary teacher at Jamaaluddeen School on 16th of February 1984. A career which began educating young minds escalated into various higher degrees with her dedication and hard work. From the primary teacher’s position where she served diligently for eight years, she was promoted to a supervisor’s position of the same school in which she was serving as a teacher. This new position gave her a chance to oversee the standard of the teachers and guided them with her expertise. Her next promotion which was to be the Assistant Principal of Imaduddin School was a big challenge for her, as it was a totally new school where everything had to be set up. Her two years at Imaduddin School was spent laying a strong foundation for the whole school; working hand in hand with the Principal of the school. Her next challenge came when she was promoted as the Acting Head of School in Jamaaluddeen School where she first began her career. The change in role from a teacher to the head of the school needed all her social and management skills to be used to the maximum. Her capabilities and skills in the management sector can be seen with the fact that Jamaaluddeen School is considered very successful in both academic and extra-curricular activities.

Ms. Shifa Mohamed held the post of Acting Head of Iskandar School till she was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Education in November 2008.

Deputy Minister Shifa was educated at Aminiya School Male’, from where she completed her London Ordinary Levels. She holds a teaching certificate from Institute of Teacher Education, Maldives (March 1984 – Dec 1984), Certificate of Educational Studies from National Institute of Education, Singapore (1987-1988) and Professional Diploma in Education from Nan Yang Technological University, Singapore (1996-1997).

Ms. Shifa took part in a number of workshops throughout her career in various schools, but the two major workshops she participated in were ‘Girls Education South Asian Best Practices Workshop’ at the Commonwealth Secretariat in Chandigarh, India in April 2005 and Regional Workshop for Women Leaders held by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in Bangladesh in August 2002. She gained a lot of experience from these two workshops where she represented Maldives.

Although Ms. Shifa had always served the government in the education field, she is the first person who introduced a systematic exercise program for exclusively females in the Maldives. She also held several health awareness workshops in the Northern and Southern region of Maldives. Her interest in this area could be due to the fact that she has a keen interest in doing social work, listening to the stories of others and lending a hand in any way possible. Although she was conducting these health programs only as a hobby, it did not go un-noticed by the whole society or the government for she was awarded the Presidential Youth award for her services to the youth of Maldives.

Schools and educational institutions are not the only places which fill up the nature-lover Ms. Shifa’s mind, for she loves having a peaceful moment by herself now and then and according to her, “There’s nothing like travelling in a boat or dhoni in the night”.

Ms. Shifa is married to Major Ahmed Jihad and has one son from a former marriage.

Dr. Abdulla Nazeer, the Deputy Minister of Education began his services to the government of Maldives in the year 1996 as a secondary teacher at the Southern Secondary School. His services to the school continued till he was transferred to the Institute of Teacher Education in 1997, as a teacher educator. He served in this post till he was promoted as a lecturer in Economics at the Faculty of Education (FE) of the Maldives College of Higher Education (MCHE). Dr Nazeer has taught Economics, Business and Professional studies in a range of courses at FE of the MCHE. Dr. Nazeer served in this faculty till 2003.

Dr. Nazeer’s services to Maldives took a break after this period as he proceeded to further his educational studies in New Zealand, where he worked as a Research Assistant at the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research while attending the University of Waikato. After the graduation in 2007 he worked as an Economics Teacher at Botany Downs College till he returned to Male’ in January 2009. His special areas of interest include cooperative learning, economics, business and environment.

Dr. Nazeer received his Bachelor of Education in Social Sciences from the University of Newcastle, Australia; Master of Arts from Macquarie University, Australia; and Graduate Diploma in International Business from Auckland University of Technology. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Economic Education from the University of Waikato in 2007. His doctoral studies focused on developing a cooperative learning model to help students learn economic concepts and content in a meaningful way.

Deputy Minister Dr. Nazeer has also participated in workshops and conferences in Maldives, India and New Zealand and he is a highly motivated and organized individual who works with exuberance and has the ability to interact with people at all levels.

Dr. Nazeer is married to Mariyam Suzy Adam. Together they have a daughter Amri, born in 1999. His recreational interests, beyond family and friends, include sports, camping and outdoor activities.