STEM Education and Capacity Building in Southern Maldives

Lareef Zubair hands over the Weather Station, Coliform Kit and 4 in 1 Water Quality Meters to Shifaz Mohamed - Principal at the G. Dh. Atoll Education Center, G. Dh. Thinadhdhoo Maldives.

Small Island Research Centre (SIRC)

SIRC is a Maldivian Research Institute with offices in Male and in the Fares-Maathoda islands, which is also a partner in this project. FECT has carried out weather and climate monitoring at SIRC Maathodaa. Under the PEER cycle 3 grant an automatic weather station was installed at Maathoda, Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll near the equator and observations are available from October 2016.

Sponsors

• PEER Program of the National Academy of Sciences

With support of USAID Maldives

Investigators:

SIRC

Principal Investigator: Mohamed Aslam

Coordinator: Aishath Abdulla

Team: Aishath Abdulla, Shahaama Sattar, Hussein Zahir

FECT

Co-Principal Investigator: Lareef Zubair

Coordinator: Ashara Nijamdeen

Partners:

Science Faculty of the Maldives National University (MNU)

Contact- Dr. Shazla Mohamed, Dean of the Faculty of Science of the MNU

Schools Engaged in the Project

• Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll Education Centre
• Huvadhoo School

Full Project Title: STEM Education and Capacity Building for Resources and Risk Management in Remote Outposts capitalizing on PEER projects on water, drought and hazards: Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll in Southern Maldives

Goals:

To develop STEM education in the Maldives by providing access to students to instrumentation, ICT systems and data.

Objectives

• Review information for water resources, drought and disasters with educational experts and teachers
• Develop a web-portal including interactive tools, introductory video, and policy briefs, flyers and posters
• Enable the Use of PEER outputs for STEM Education in Schools: Focus on Fares-Maathoda in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll and neighboring islands
• Demonstrate the use of scientific information for  resource management and hazard and infection disease risk management by community groups and local government officials’s
• Collaboratively develop content and material to support citizen science and community resource management (water, coral reefs and fisheries) and risk management (natural hazards and infectious diseases).

What has been done?

• Work Plan Finalized between SIRC and FECT. Discussion with principal, teachers and students of Huvadhoo School on how to include this work program.
• Discussion with principal, teachers and a few students of the Thinadhoo High School (Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll Education Centre).
• The Thinadhdhoo School has been provided with a weather instrument and water quality instruments.
• Weather station provided to the Maathoda Island is functional.

Aishath Luthfee, Shifaz Mohamed, Lareef Zubair and the School Prefects at the Discussion.	Lareef Zubair hand over the water Quality equipments to Ali Zuhair.

Some of the details of the work undertaken were

• Aisha Abdullah and others at SIRC wrote to the Maldives Zonal Ministry, Principals of the Thinadhoo and Huvadhoo School. Instruments and supplies for student laboratory work were prepared and acquired.
• A Laboratory was set up for trials in FECT offices in Sri Lanka with the same equipment as in SIRC offices Maathoda Maldives.
• Introductory materials for students as expected in the work plan are being prepared. Dates for workshop in Maldives are being finalized and plans for workshop in the Maldives are being finalized.

Dr. Shazla Mohamed, Dean, Faculty of Science, Maldives National University receiving the Automatic weather station from Dr. Lareef Zubair.	Dr. Lareef Zubair talking to the parents at the Huvadhoo School

The Ambient Weather Station mounted on top of the Thinadhoo School building	Dr. Lareef Zubair reviewing the facilities of the science laboratory of the Huvadhoo School