MDP: Next year

Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has said that the MVR 27.457 billion Proposed State Budget for 2016 contains only numbers.

Speaking on behalf of the party’s Education Committee at a press conference on Thursday, former Education Minister Mustafa Luthfy said that the education sector requires ‘programming’, but this was not included in the budget.

“Our review so far shows that there is no budget ‘programming’, or the budget does not reflect their [the government’s] promises. Next year’s budget contains unclear numbers,” Mustafa said.

Speaking at the press conference, former Education Minister Shifa Mohamed, while pointing out that there are 18 political posts in the Education Ministry, said that the education sector should be run in a professional manner.

She said that parents are worried about the education policies adopted by the government.

“There are 18 political posts in the Education Ministry, which means work should be planned and informed to parents in advance. Yet we do not see anything being planned. What we see are efforts to add more political posts to the ministry,” said Shifa, who also serves as Deputy Mayor of Malé.

She also noted that while the government has promised salary bumps for teachers, this has not been received by 1,200 teachers; and no changes to teachers’ salaries are included in the 2016 budget.