Parliament passes bill obligating a pre-school in every island

The bill regarding the operation of pre-schools was passed today, obligating the existence of a government-run pre-school in every island.

The bill, which was submitted by Meedhoo MP Ahmed Siyaam, was passed after revision with the vote of 71 out of 74 members present at the meeting. The bill states that every child has the right to pre-school education, and includes details of government subsidies to be given to current operators of pre-schools.

When submitting the bill to the Majlis, Siyaam said that the purpose of this bill is to make accessible free pre-school education for all Maldivian children.

In today’s sitting, the Majlis also passed the bill relating to the national archive. However, as a revision to change the name of the bill was approved by the vote of 66 of 73 members present at the meeting, the bill was renamed “Gaumee Arusheef”. The bill states details on how the national archives are to be held, and regulations regarding documents to be included in the archive. It also says that these documents should be easily accessible to the public.

The biggest debate with regard to this bill, was about a revision proposed by MDP, to make public the documents, photos and videos relating to court trials. This revision was however not approved.

In today’s meeting, several revisions were also proposed for the Thalassaemia Control bill.

The members were divided in their opinions regarding these revisions. Some members said that it is not acceptable that so many revisions be proposed for a bill which has already been passed by the Majlis, and that revisions can only be proposed on the issues noted by the President.