HRCM requests to maintain ETCC’s school

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has called upon the government to not to take the school building of Education and Vocational Training Center for Children (ETCC) in Maafushi for use of the Province office.

A delegation of HRCM visited ETCC in Maafushi Island on 21 October and this Tuesday they released a report on their findings of the visit. The report stated that ETCC was informed by the province office that the school building will be taken up as an accommodation block for employees of province office.

ETCC is a juvenile reformatory which was established in 1979. The center which now had a capacity of 84 children has 54 children living there. Almost all children at the Center are of age 9 to 18 years and all of them are boys.

HRCM’s report also stated that senior officials of ETCC kept on saying that the school was an important building for the Center as children from ETCC are taught in that school. For this reason, HRCM had, in their report, proposed to maintain that building as a school for ETCC instead of being taken up for province office.

The report also pointed out that the food allowances stipulated per child at the center was fixed at Mrf 30 and the employees working in the accommodation block of ETCC receive Mrf 15 per person and that this amount was far too less when as food prices has increased. HRCM requested to redo the budget in a way a balanced and nutritious meal can be provided for the well being of the children at this center.

The report also stressed that the water used for bathing had a very bad odor as the center was near the beach and that because of this, a number of children at this center suffered from different skin problems. HRCM proposed to promptly install the water pump that was supposed to be installed in the island.

The human rights commission also drew attention to the fact that training programs conducted from ETCC has been stopped for the past one year and HRCM also called out to quickly commence these classes as it was important to give some sort of vocational training to these children.

The report also highlighted the absence of a counselor in ETCC and stressed the importance of appointing a counselor in the center.

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