# Educational Development Project (6 October 1976)

URL: https://allhistories.com/maldives/timeline/1976-educational-development-project
Location: Eydhafushi, Baa Atoll, Maldives
Themes: main-event

On 6 October 1976 the government began the Educational Development Project, which was based on a UNESCO study, according to Wikipedia's article on education in the Maldives. The project covered expansion of primary schooling, teacher training, curriculum development, educational radio, adult education and the development of textbooks. Western-style education was still young: Majeediyya School, the first secondary school of that type, had been founded in 1927 and Aminiya School for girls in 1944. Curriculum development under the project began in 1976 and teacher training in 1977. Nasir's chronology also lists A-level education beginning in 1976. The first school under the project opened in March 1978 at Eydhafushi in Baa Atoll, with later schools in Noonu Atoll, Haa Dhaalu Atoll and, in March 1979, Kulhudhuffushi. The project aimed to bring schooling out of the capital. The sources fetched give no enrolment figures and do not say how the programme was funded. At this point in the timeline (1976), Ibrahim Nasir (11 November 1968 – 11 November 1978) was President of the Second Republic, proclaimed on 11 November 1968 after the sultanate was abolished, and was head of state of the Maldives.

## Why it matters
The project began the extension of modern schooling from Malé to the outer atolls.

Ruler at the Time: [Ibrahim Nasir](https://allhistories.com/maldives/rulers/ibrahim-nasir-1968)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Education in the Maldives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_Maldives)
- [Wikipedia — Ibrahim Nasir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Nasir)