بســم اللّـه الرّحمـن الرّحيــم
Honorable Ministers, Your Excellencies, Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen.
Before I start, I would like to pass a comment or a statement to Honourable Appavoo Suresh. He is a person from the private sector. I truly believe that a person must be paid according to the production, according to what he produce. So therefore, the teachers who are truly responsible to look after the children, as their own children, as the professor said just now. I truly agree this is something that the government must seriously consider and I can assure you that sitting in cabinet meetings now, I have the opportunity through these stuffs and to stand up and fight for your right of equal salary, which I will do and I hope you will also tell your minister to deal with that and I will collaborate with him. Thank you.
I would also like to wish a happy teachers day for everybody.
Assalaam Alaikum and a very Good morning specially for those who have come from abroad for this conference, a warm welcome from the beautiful sunny side of the Maldives.
Before I start my speech I would like to introduce myself to you. Because I feel many of you may not know me.
I started teaching when I was 19 years old. I taught in all the private schools in Male’: Henveiyru, Maafannu, Galolhu and Machangoalhi. Then I went for Addu Atoll and opened two schools in Hithadhoo and two schools in Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo. I spend close to five years teaching in Addu Atoll.
Still today the best and the most passionate profession I love is teaching. Because I believe the first step in nation building is to develop disciplined creative teachers. Teachers are the back bone of the society. Good and well educated teachers create good and responsible students.
These students become responsible citizens and the leaders of tomorrow. So there is no doubt that the teachers play a very very important role in the life of the community and the people. Like the professor says in any transformation, especially in a democratic nation, the first step is educating the people. I do not believe that the democracy can be established without teaching them the constitution, political science and the rest of the education that you have to give to the people.
Changing the constitution and changing the president does not, a country does not become a democratic country. You have to change the mindset of the people, the people thinking for years and years in Maldives. We have fought, we have fought and we have fought the people.
Single leadership, not sharing the ideas with the people and specially not listening to the grass roots of the people, citizens of the people, a democracy starts from the bottom and not from the top and the leaders of today must realize it, and unless we believe this strongly is we cannot change the Maldives and you teachers play a very very important role in this aspect.
And I am very happy that this conference is held not only discussing measures with our local communities and local teachers, we will be sharing ideas with teachers from international communities who may have very good ideas to share with us. As today whether it is Maldives or Miyama or Sri Lanka, we are a global world, we live in a global world, we are effected by the worlds patterns. And we as a small nation must learn to react to the happenings of the world. And understand how we should react to the different acts of the international community and that can only be achieved by a true method of teachers, teaching the students the proper and true methods of living in a harmony world where today you have all become nationals and we have to learn the regime, different races, regions and tolerate our attitudes.
This is the most important event for celebrating Teacher’s day in 2012 by the Ministry of Education; this is the first International Teacher’s conference in the Maldives.
This conference is aimed to reinforce the culture of academic research among teachers and educators in the Maldives. The conference invites the international educational research community to take part in the conference. It will serve as a platform for teachers to come together and share their research and experience with other professionals from the Maldives and other countries.
Further the conference will help the role of teachers and principals in the social transformation in the Maldives and will definitely educate role of teachers and principals in building a democratic leadership in the school and pave the way for teachers to make important decisions based on the research in the school system. At the same time the conference will help to recognize the importance of professional development for teachers and principals.
Therefore, I am very confident that this international teacher’s conference will open new doors and windows and will bring new ideas to develop better teachers in the future for our beautiful country.
May god bless Maldives.
Thank you.