Education in Kaafu Atoll Villingili

Kaafu Atoll Villingili has been a famous name since the death of sultan Ali the Sixth as the history states about a toddy tapper who was in Villingili who came for rescue of the king and fought against the Portuguese.

Villingili had normally not been an inhabited island though there were concentration camps and prisons during the leadership of several leaders including President Ibrahim Nasir. There are rumours about the ill treatment of prisoners in the prison of Villingili.

Later , the island became a tourist resort in 1970's and later again it remained as an uninhabited island for sometime.

However, in the year 2000 government began a project of providing residential plots in Villingili. Thus , when the project began and when about 30 to 40 families were ready to settle down, the ministry of education decided to open a small multi-grade teaching school in the name of K.Villingili School, for which few rooms used by the tourist resort were slightly modified. Mr. Mahdhy Shahid was appointed as the head of school and he began education in the newly inhabited island at that time. That school expanded gradually. Mr. Mahdhy served there for two years and left for higher education. Now the school is known as Muhiyyudin School.

Beginning of Formal Preschools in Maldives

The first ever preschool to be established in Maldives was Hameediyya  Montessori School which was established by the government on 10^th May 1961 in Male the capital of Maldives.(School, 2008)In October 1970 the name of the school was changed to Nasiriyya Montessori School.(School, 2008)After changing the name to Iskandhar Montessori school, later in 1980 the school’s name was changed to Iskandhar School as it focused from then on Primary Education rather than preschool. 

Other famous preschools which added on later  include the preschool run by Jamiyathul Falah. However, let’s focus on the genesis of preschools in the Maldives. As I had been a student of the school while it was named Nasiriyya Montessori School I can very easily compare the condition of that preschool and the current preschools in Male which is run by the private sector as government has reduced their involvement in preschool matters.

It was the kind of preschool which we long to see today. All the teachers were very well informed in the art of teaching preschool level children as they were trained teachers from Sri Lanka. The school even at that time had a good focus on security of the school and had a security guard always at the gate. There were enough building for the number students enrolled and plenty of space for children to move and play around. Big trees in the compound provided sufficient shade and made the environment cool.

The school has drinking water facilities and gadgets for children to play in the compound just as we would see in a modern day children’s park. Though electric bell system was not there the bell hung on a low branch of tree in front of the office rang from time to time. The classrooms were equipped with all necessary materials for the children. There were enough desks and chairs for approximately 20 children who studied in each classroom.

 Students were provided with books to read, clay boards, clay, and other materials to be used in the classroom. Parents did not have to pay for those materials and the education was free for children of al economic backgrounds.

The music classes provided a great entertainment for the children. All musical instruments needed such as rattles, triangles, small drums, etc were provided for the students by the school. Further a very talented music teacher played a piano while she instructed students to sing along with her.

Besides all these the school provided free health checkups for the children from time to time and students were encouraged to practice healthy life style.

In the classrooms teachers provided plenty of knowledge required for the age and encouraged children to draw and paint. The lessons were very interactive and I still remember some of the activities and artworks of mine displayed by the teacher.

Thus we could conclude that the preschool at that time was a good establishment and had provided shelter of education for several Maldivian children who are adults of the nation serving today. Though I have not highlighted in this document preschools were established in some islands later and had served the region to which the schools belonged.

Going Abroad for Studies

Going abroad itself was not an easy experience before the first airport in Maldives was opened in 1966  under leadership of Ibrahim Nasir the second president , then prime minister . Further , the permission to go abroad was not granted to each and everyone. The scholars of Maldives whom we find in the past such Hussain Salahuddin, Ibrahim Rushdie, Ibrahim Shihab, Abdul Majeed,Hassan Fareed, Mohamed Ameen Didi etc. were all people who belonged to royal and high ranking families. Due to their early exposure to outside world and the knowledge they gained people accepted them a lot . As a result they were the people who succeeded the leadership of the country in different ways. The trend of sending people who belonged to royal families lasted in Maldives until very recent days , though some very smart people who belonged to poorer and not well-known families squeezed them self out of the country for higher studies. This is a fact which would not be highlighted in most written documents as most documents were written by these scholars in the past and even present writers always referred to their writings. I have interviewed some people who tried to acquire higher studies and had to give up as they did not have permission as such to go abroad. However, I would not blame those people from royal families who went abroad to study which I have mentioned as its not they who decided the policy and further the names mentioned are of those who tried their best to educate people of Maldives after they returned which means the idea of equal opportunities of education was inculcated in them from wherever they studied. Some of them educated themselves from Al-Azhar University of Egypt. Others from India and Sri Lanka. Some even acquired education from two of the mentioned countries.


Even if we step further into history we find that some Sultans and their children had the opportunity to go to some part of India to acquire education. It is mentioned in the story of Mohamed Thakurufaan who saved Maldives from Portuguese that he went to some part in India to aqcuire some education but to which extent is not clearly stated. Further some other kings of Maldives went abroad and some settled down abroad. Yet this is not about gaining education.
As I have mentioned before Hussain Salahuddin, Ibrahim Rushdie encouraged then Sultan Shamsuddin to begin formal education for all. Further Mohamed Amin Didi as the first president of Maldives and as a strong leader introduced a lot of opportunities for Maldivians to acquire education. He is especially known for empowering women and providing opportunities of education for women. It is evident from history that during Mohamed Amin Didi’s presidency he sent 15 students from Maldives to Al-Azhar University and that one of them was former president of Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Further its is clear that when they were not able to go to Egypt due to 1948 Arab-Israeli war they stayed in Sri Lanka to continue studies at Royal College, Colombo until condition was better in Egypt.

Beginning of Formal Schooling in the Maldives

The first formal school in Maldives was Majeediyya school founded on April 19, 1927, by Sultan Muhammad Shamsuddeen III on the counsel of Sheik Ibrahim Rushdee and Sheik Husain Salaahuddin.
Majeediyya School was started under the name Madharusathul Salahiyya, at Fadiyaaruge residence, with 69 students. Due to lack of space, the school was soon relocated. The school name was changed to Madhrasathul Saniyyathul Hukoomathul Mahaldheebiyya (commonly referred to as Madhrasathul Saniyya) along with this relocation, in 1928. Sheik Husain Salaahuddin was the first principal of the school and one of the first teachers of Majeedhiyya School included Sheikh Ibrahim Rushdil Azharee.
Though it is now a single-gender school, this was not so in the beginning. Madhrasathul Saniyya, from the start, accommodated students of both genders. After 17 years, the need for a separate girls' school was felt. A new school, Aminiyya School, was established, by the Government, for girls in 1944.
This is the picture of beginning of formal schooling given by most written documents. Though the picture seem colourful it was not so colourful as most of the young people of today can imagine. Though schooling was started formally subjects such as Dhivehi Language(Local Language), Islam(fighu), Arabic and dhivehi writing were taught. For the that time it was sufficient as it was just the beginning.
The first president of Maldives Mohamed AminDidi (July 20, 1910 - January 19, 1954)was a total reformer. He was the pioneer of education for women and women empowerment in Maldives.
He introduced atoll schools to education system providing the light of education for the first time for people of islands other than the capital Male’. Further he traveled throughout Maldives and sent people and selected one girl and boy from each island to educate in Male’. These children brought from other islands to Male’ were kept in homes of well-to-do people in Male’.
The atoll schools he designed provided boarding facility as well. Only boys were taken from different islands to these boarding schools. These students were taught Islam(Fighu),Dhivehi Language, English Language, Urdu Language as subjects and they were taken care extremely well providing everything necessary totally free for them. This lasted for a short period as Mohamed Ameen Didi was deposed about seven months after he became president. However, he served progress of the country for a considerable period in different posts. Along with his end the atoll system also came to a halt for some time. “A person named Saeed Saeed came from Male’ to tell us that the school will be closed and we have to go home as government would not be able to spend on us”, said Mohamed Hussain, former student of Thiladhunmathi Atoll Madharusaa
I believe that opposition of Amin Didi and end of the school system occurred as people were frustrated due to difficult conditions the country faced as a result of aftermath of the second world war. Some of the dominant schools in atolls like Madharusathul Ifthithaah in Lhaviyani,Naifaru, continued their education. Some citizens of islands took initiative to establish and continue schooling.
Though schooling was brought to an end by government in atolls ,it was continued in capital Male’ for those who were privileged. Since then until now less amount of attention had been given to education in atolls compared to schools in Male’ for various reasons, though schooling in all the islands began when Maumoon Abdul Gayoom took office as president.

Education During the Period of British Protectorate

Unlike many of its Indian Ocean neighbours, Maldives was never physically colonised by Europeans before Addu's temporary occupation by the UK airforce and navy. Though the Portuguese and the Dutch did not do anything to support the educational level of the Maldivians during their period of strong control on the country, the British supported substantially to improve the education and health of the people around their naval base until they closed Addu Atoll Gan base in 1976.
Formal support of the British for education certainly existed. Moreover, many of the people of Addu and nearby atolls gained knowledge and fluency in English language during that period. This was a driving force for the people of Addu to progress besides the wealth some of them had acquired due to presence of the British.
The famous rebellion movement, formation of ‘Suvadive republic’ by three southern atolls of Maldives under the leadership of Afeef was the result of progress in wealth , health and education in that region during British period and further the long existed suppression of progress of people of that region by central government. The movement was suppressed by the Male’ government.
Soon after the British left once again Addu had to follow the long existing culture of depending on Male’. However, the people of Addu gained momentum in the field of business right after that.

Education During the period of Kings and Sultans

From the period of King Soorudasaruna-Adeettiya (Exiled prince and son of King Sri Brahamaadittiya of the Kalinga Kingdom of India ) to King Bovana Aananda and from King Koimala (1117-1141AD) who first ruled the whole Maldive Islands, to Sultan Muhammad Imaaduddeen VI (1893-1902 AD) the educational policy of Maldives did not show much changes. The policy was that only those who belonged to the royal family and ruling council shall educate themselves. Moreover , education was not a major concern of the people at that time. Even those in the royal family only needed power. Maldivian history reveals that very close relatives and husbands were assassinated by those who succeeded them.
Hajji Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta .(February 25, 1304–1368 or 1369), was a Moroccan Berber Islamic scholar and traveler who is known for the account of his travels and excursions called the Rihla who wrote a great deal about Maldives. As Maldives was lacking the expertise of a person who had learned the religion properly as a judge, he had to stay in Maldives for nine months during his travels. He was half kidnapped and half bribed, by marrying him into royal family by Sultan Omar I.Further , he married many women in Maldives. Though he was a foreigner and visitor he was appointed as Qazi or Chief Judge as there was no one else fit for the post.His presence in Maldives would have provided some extent of religious and Arabic education to Maldivians.
Citizens of Maldives during that period were simple people who were quite content when they could get a good catch of fish and if they can feed their families two times a day. Maximum education they needed was enough to attend prayers according to Islam. “Dus kiyun” a term used during that time for learning 10 surah’s from the Noble Quran was a sign of becoming a privileged person as everybody would respect such a person. In most islands those people would lead the prayers.
The main source of education which existed during the period of sultans were ‘eduruge’ or house where one person who had learned very basic religious education would teach to perform prayers and recite just very short few surah’s from the Noble Quran. As a matter of fact even this opportunity was mainly enjoyed by the privileged. Moreover , most such opportunities were only available in Male’ the capital city.

Earliest Possible Roots of Education and Literacy in Maldives

Maldives had been a Buddhist country before being converted to Islam for about 1400 years as history of the Maldives states and it is certain that along with Buddhism the people would have accepted all the educational links which Budhism had.

According to books of history of the Maldives published, Maldives had accepted Buddhism during 3rd century BC, most probably with the spread of great Mauryan Empire of India.HCP Bell who was a Commissioner of the Ceylon Civil Service had contributed for the history of Maldives to a great extent.According to his writings Buddhism came to Maldives from Sri Lanka.Since then, new archaeological discoveries point to Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist influences, which are likely to have come to the islands straight from the Subcontinent. An urn discovered in Maalhos (Ari Atoll,Maldives) in the 1980s has a Vishvavajra inscribed with Protobengali script. This text was in the same script used in the ancient Buddhist centres of learning in Nalanda and Vikramashila.There are several archaeological findings displayed in the Maldives even in the new museum opened in the Maldives which reveal the use of scripts by ancient Maldivians.

The script used by the ancient Maldivians were called "Eveyla Akuru" which means ancient script by historians.The earliest copper plates "Loamafaanu" of king's decrees were written in this script.The copper plates date back to 12th century AD. These are all evidences of the earliest literacy of Maldives.

Since the conversion of Maldives to Islam in 1153 AD, as known from most writings, Arabic text and learning of Arabic to recite at least a few verses of Quran would have become necessary for those who led prayers.Since then Islam remained the religion of Maldivians until Portuguese conquered Maldives in 1558 AD and Maldivians in all the islands must have used Arabic to some extent though the ancient scripts such as "Eveyla akuru" and "Dhives akuru" may not have been familiar with most Maldivians as literacy of people was not a concern at that time.

Approximately 17 years ruled by the Portuguese were referred to as the dark period of Maldives.During this period the needs of Maldivians were of no major concern to the rulers. As soon as Mohamed Thakurufaanu son of Hussein Katheeb Thakurufaanu saved Maldives from Portuguese and became sultan he tried to spread basic Islamic education to islands of Maldives inorder to help Maldivians to learn the basics of Islam.

However, the writings found from remains of ancient Buddhist monasteries in Maldives,old mosques and tomb stones reveal the use of these scripts in Maldives.Hence litearcy and education would have existed in Maldives to some extent even during the days of rule by the ancient Buddhist and Muslim kings.