Speaker assigns A* to Education Minister for her detailed responses

Speaker of Parliament, former President Mohamed Nasheed has commended Education Minister Dr. Aishath Ali for her detailed responses to the questions posed by parliamentarians, which he said deserved an ‘A*’ grade.

Dr. Aishath had attended the Parliament for a ministerial questioning session in response to a request filed by Dhaandhoo MP Yauqoob Abdulla this Wednesday.

She was questioned by Yauqoob regarding a timeline for implementation of a new salary structure for teachers, and regarding the shortage in new recruits in the education sector.

She was also questioned regarding specific schools, and measures implemented by the Education Ministry to reform the education sector by several other parliamentarians.

Dr. Aishath has responded to each question with detailed answers.

At the end of the session, Speaker Nasheed commended Dr. Aishath for being so well informed in her area of expertise, and the confidence she exuded in responding to the questions.

“The honorable minister provided detailed answers. With confidence and knowledge. I therefore thank the honorable minister. And I assign the honorable minister an A*,” said Nasheed.

He said that Dr. Aishath’s presence at the Parliament had come at a time when it was sorely in need of a principal, most likely referring to the disruptive behavior by opposition parliamentarians on Monday and Tuesday in protest against alleged interference by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) into the judiciary.

Answering questions posed by parliamentarians, Dr. Aishath said that the decrease in new recruits to the education sector was due to low salary and allowance, coupled with less than ideal working conditions.

She said that the Education Ministry was working hard to implement positive changes to salary structure of public school teachers in 2020, and had drafted a fairer salary structure and shared it with the Pay Commission.

She promised to implement positive changes to the salary structure in 2020, and said that the Education Ministry was also running programs to boost the recruits to education sector.

Dr. Aishath said that converting the schooling system to a single session would prove to be a huge convenience to public school teachers, and would also serve to improve working conditions.