Third Committee
Agenda Item 72(b): Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
Intervention by the Republic of Maldives to the Report by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Mr. Kishore Singh
United Nations, New York, 29 October 2015
Thank you Distinguished Chairperson,
The Maldives would like to thank the Special Rapporteur for his report and the extensive work carried out by him in promoting the right to education.
Ensuring the right of very child to education, without any form of discrimination, is one of the key policy priorities of the Maldives. It is an area of key importance and investment, as 46 percent of the Maldivian population constitute of children and youth. Maldives has gained significant progress in this area, including universality of primary education, both in terms of literacy and enrollment. The education sector in the Maldives has also transformed in recent years with more opportunities in higher education and in the form of public-private partnerships.
The Special Rapporteur’s report highlights many aspects that are of great importance and relevance to achieving a balance in a sector that is rapidly transforming. The Maldives fully underscores the importance of the right to education and the responsibility of the State to carry forward the obligation. We welcome the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur, and would like assure our full cooperation for him.
My delegation would like to note that many unique challenges persist for small island nations such as the Maldives in providing education. This is especially true for assuring quality education evenly, when the population is dispersed so thinly over many islands across 90,000 square kilometres. We would like to hear your views about innovative methods on providing quality education in such challenging environments.
