Kunahandhoo parents protest and refuse to send children to school

The parents of Laamu Kunahandhoo have started protesting on the school grounds claiming that the school does not have good teachers. The parents have refused to take their children to school today.

A leading protester said that the parents have been protesting since 6:30 in the morning because the school does not have qualified Dhivehi and Islam teachers, and also because it does not have any Quran teachers. He said that the management has so far not worked towards solving the problem and that they will only stop protesting once they get reassurance that the problem will be solved.

“This island school does not have an Islam teacher who has done the proper course. It does not have a Dhivehi teacher. It’s been 12 years since this school last had a Quran teacher. The school is not doing anything to solve this. When we met the school management today, they said that they will solve it, but we will not believe because they are just words. They have to give it to us in writing, or we will not stop the protest,” said the man from the island, which has a population of 800 people, about the school.

Kunahandhoo School Deputy Principle Hussain Yousuf said that only three children attended school today, and that the rest of parents did not send their children to school, but are protesting in the school compound.

He said that the parents’ claims that the school has not been working towards hiring teachers are completely baseless, and that the school had announced to hire Dhivehi and Islam teachers who had completed the relevant course, and that nobody had shown interest because the island does not have qualified people for the job.

He also said that the announcement to hire a Quran teacher has not yet reached its deadline. The demands of the protesting parents have now been conveyed to the Education Ministry, said Yousuf.

“The only teachers we’re lacking are Dhivehi and Islam teachers that have completed the relevant course. The school had announced to seek for teachers who had completed the course. Because there is nobody that has completed the course on this island, by the time the announcement expired, nobody had shown interest. We have announced for a Quran teacher now. The announcement has not expired yet,” said Yousuf.