Media in the Maldives

Abstract

The Maldives historically was inhabited by people who were Buddhist; Islam was adopted in 1153 and has been the only religion practised since then. In spite of having British protectorate status from 1887 to 1965, the Maldives lacks any colonial imprint as the British took no hand in the internal administration of the country. In 1968, a referendum established the country as a presidential republic, with a democratically elected parliament. A new and modern constitution, with a chapter on fundamental human rights and freedoms, was adopted in 2008. The country historically has maintained a literacy rate above 90% in the local language, for both males and females. While Dhivehi is the national language, and legal and official correspondence is conducted in Dhivehi (written in the Thaana script), English is used as the primary medium for teaching throughout the educational system. The English language was introduced to the education system in the 1960s, and the younger generations are literate in English. Many Maldivians are familiar with Hindi and Arabic: Hindi because of the prominence of Indian movies in Maldivian popular culture and Arabic given its association with Islam. Government ministries and other public agencies have their websites in both Dhivehi and English. There are a number of local news websites in Dhivehi, including the facility to comment in Dhivehi. Blogs and discussion forums have identified the importance of access to a keyboard using Thaana font as an alternative to writing in Romanised Dhivehi. Computers using a Windows operating system have access to a virtual Thaana keyboard, and discussion forums offer solutions to Mac users whose computers do not feature a virtual Thaana keyboard.