Head teachers wooed by Maldives

English head teachers are being encouraged to swap their high-pressured jobs for teaching posts in the palm-fringed atolls of Maldives.

Maldives' Minister for Education Dr Mustafa Lutfi said they were seeking head teachers familiar with the English curriculum in order to boost standards in schools on some of the country's 200 inhabited islands.

Dr Lutfi says that while 12 to 15% of the government's budget is spent on education, an average of only one in three students obtains five O-levels at grade C and above.

"Currently our standard is poor compared to the money we spend on education," he told the BBC. "We want foreign professionals to come and help us turn our schools around."

The move is part of a wider strategy by the government, which came into power in November, to improve education, which also includes the privatisation of some schools.

Local priority

"Previous education policies centralised schools and colleges in the capital, Male, where one third of the country's population live. We need to give the other two thirds similar access to high quality education," Dr Lutfi said.

Head teachers with three years experience will be offered a monthly salary of 10,000 Rufiyaa (£523) and accommodation, and will teach in one of the country's 227 schools.

The head of Teachers' Link, the country's teaching association, Abdullah Mohamed, said he supported the move but said the government must also prioritise training for Maldivian teachers.

President Mohamed Nasheed, who was elected in October in the country's first multiparty polls, studied in the UK. Maldives' schools have used an English curriculum since 1960.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk