Maldives has recently launched 20 broadband-enabled, child-friendly learning centres, which link 20 of the country's islands. Supported by the United Nation's Children Fund (UNICEF), the connected Teacher Resource Centres (TRCs) were established to create a virtual learning environment accessible throughout the Maldives. The TRCs are designed to alleviate the logistical problems of teacher training in Maldives (a country of 1,200 small islands – 200 of which are inhabited). Up to 80 per cent of teacher-training costs are related to transportation.
Teachers and children can connect to the internet and use a 'smart board' (a touch-sensitive "black- or white-board" sized screen on which a computer screen display is projected and which has points that can change computer function with a tap of the finger). This interactive learning, along with other new learning methods fostering children's communications skills, has been enabled by broadband connectivity across the atolls. Literacy rates in the Maldives exceed 90 per cent, with nearly all children receiving some form of primary education. However, the enrollment rate in secondary school drops sharply. UNICEF estimates that more than 30 per cent of Maldivian teachers are untrained, and many islands have up to 100 pupils per trained primary-school teacher. Although some 70 per cent of the population live on islands far from the capital, the TRCs will make it possible for them to connect remotely.
i4d Weekly Newsletter November 23 - 30 2007 and the UNICEF website.