SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION
regarding access to medicine
While 41.0% of the respondents were satisfied
with schooling and education in the Maldives,
40.0% were disappointed. This is an improvement
from 2011 where 34.1% seemed satisfied with the
education provided and 44.0% were dissatisfied.
People from urban areas (52.4%) appeared
relatively more satisfied about education and
schools than those living in the outer islands where
45.2% of respondents reported being dissatisfied
with the quality of education and schools in their
islands. Most (23.3%) of the respondents felt
better qualified and trained teachers in schools
would improve the quality of education and 16.7%
thought improving education by easing access to
education in higher grades of the outer islands
would positively affect education in general.
Although the number of respondents with this
opinion has declined since 2005, both surveys
conducted in 2005 and 2011 found people have
been consistently saying improvement in these
factors are imperative for overall improvement in
education.
Similar views were expressed regarding the
quality of hospitals with the majority of people
being dissatisfied (64.4%). More women (69.1%)
than men (55.7%) were not satisfied with the
quality of hospitals. Respondents from urban
regions (65.9%) appeared to be slightly more
dissatisfied with the quality of hospitals than
those from the outer islands (63.5%)
Table 57: Perception of areas of improvement in the health system, by region
Outer islands
Urban
More health centres
9.07%
8.66%
Better services at health centres
27.94%
16.23%
More hospitals at a regional
level
13.32%
12.36%
Better services at hospitals
31.36%
31.53%
Others
8.79%
24.11%
RF
1.02%
0.00%
DK/NA
8.51%
7.11%
Table 58: Perception of areas of improvement in the health system, by gender
Table 56: Perception of areas of the education system in need of improvement, by region
Male
Female
More health centres
9.87%
8.44%
Better services at health centres
20.74%
25.07%
Outer
islands
Urban
Total
Education to higher grade on islands
18.87%
11.66%
16.69%
Better trained and qualified teachers
24.90%
19.43%
23.25%
More hospitals at a regional
level
13.88%
12.44%
Better facilities, such as library, laboratory
15.36%
8.83%
13.39%
Better services at hospitals
28.09%
33.24%
Better qualified Principals
15.13%
5.12%
12.11%
Others
15.89%
13.87%
Better monitoring systems
9.93%
11.31%
10.35%
Others
5.04%
26.50%
11.52%
RF
0.84%
0.00%
0.59%
DK/NA
9.93%
17.14%
12.11%
ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE
Three components were assessed to understand
how people felt about access to healthcare
services, overall health services, access to
medicines and quality of hospitals. The majority
(63.6%) of the people were dissatisfied with
overall health services and especially those from
outer islands (62.3%). More women reported
being unhappy with health services across the
regions (67.9%).
More than half of the people were not happy
with access to medicines (57.4%), most of whom
were women (62.1%). Slightly more people from
the outer islands (58.0%) were more dissatisfied
than respondents from urban regions (56.4%)
RF
DK/NA
0.84%
10.70%
0.53%
6.40%
The overall dissatisfaction manifested around
the three components of health are synonymous
with the 2011 findings highlighting that people
do not feel health services have improved over
the years.
Close to a third of respondents (31.4%) believed
improving services at the hospitals would
enhance access to healthcare in general. This is
a significant decline from 2011 where 71.4% of
respondents said the same. Interestingly, in 2019,
there is an increase in the number of people who
seem to think that improving services in health
centres at island level, would help to provide
better health services and access (23.6%). This
shift indicates support for decentralized services.
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