Minister Dr. Ismail Shafeeu officially inaugurated the "Educator Professional Development Program for Equity and Inclusion" (EPDPEI) today.

This project is planned to be carried out under Activity 2.1.4 of the Ministry's Thaiba Project. Led by the Department of Inclusive Education, the main objective of this project is to familiarize teachers and school leaders with inclusive pedagogy and the principles of delivering inclusive education for all students.

Under the EPDPEI project, 7 e-learning modules have been designed so far, all of which are now accessible to schools via the Edhuru portal.

Modules included under the project:

1. Universal Design for Learning
2. Differentiated Instructions
3. Assistive Technology
4. Teaching Strategies for Autism Spectrum Disorder
5. Managing Challenging Behavior for Students with ADHD and ASD
6. Early Identification and Intervention
7. Design Thinking

Participants who successfully complete the 7 e-learning modules of the EPDPEI program will receive an Inclusive Educator Certificate through the Edhuru Portal.

The pilot phase of the "Educator Professional Development Program for Equity and Inclusion (EPDPEI)" has already been successfully conducted with 34 participants from 10 selected schools across the Maldives. Moving forward, plans are in place to implement this project on a broader scale across all schools in the Maldives.