The Symposium for the revision of educational curriculum planned by the Educational Development Center of the Ministry of Education to obtain public opinion was inaugurated this morning by the Vice President,. The ceremony began with the recitation of Quran by Lecturer of the Faculty of Education, Mohamed Riyaz. The welcome speech was delivered by the Minister of Education, Dr. Mustafa Lutfi.

In his speech the Minister highlighted the survey and research done to arrive at the topics of the papers to be presented. He also stressed the need to engage the public in achieving the opinions in planning and structuring the curriculum framework, which in turn will guide us to compile the syllabus which will lead to the work of the text books. The Minister also included the need for the revision of the curriculum as there had been rapid change in the society; the curriculum needed be revised in order to instill the current generation with skills, knowledge and attitudes to survive in the changing environment.

The Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, addressed the participants of the symposium. In his speech he spoke of the changes that had occurred within the past twenty five years and shed light on the necessity of changing the curriculum to keep pace with the changes. The Vice President also said that the curriculum we use today had been compiled 25 years ago and that there has been changes occurring in Maldives and in the world that we need to consider, such as changes in Science and Technology, Health, Population, and even the constitution.

The UNICEF Resident Representative Mr Mansoor Ali also spoke at the inauguration, about the necessity for changes to be made to the curriculum, and the different considerations that needed to be taken into account in doing so.

The presentations to be made today are Changing Curriculum of the Maldives by EDC, discussions of findings from the survey research for the public opinion by Dr. Naashia Mohamed, Islamic Moral Values and Education by Sh. Fayyaz Ali Manik, Culture and Identity by Ahmed Tholal, Democracy and Human Rights by Dr. Ali Shameem and Science and Technology by Dr. Ali Fawaz Shareef.

The second session of the opening is currently going on. The discussions of the concept papers being presented now will commence this afternoon.