Browsing by Author | މުސައްނިފުން "Riyaz, Aminath"
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Item Determinants of socioeconomic experiences during COVID-19 pandemic in the Maldives(Research Development Office, The Maldives National University, 2020-12) Musthafa, Hawwa Shiuna; Riyaz, Aminath; Moosa, Sheena; Abdul Raheem, Raheema; Naeem, Aishath ZeenThis paper evaluates the individual experiences and perceptions of the public about the COVID-19 pandemic in the Maldives. The data was collected from a probability sample comprising 1026 respondents using an online survey. The results show that less than 1% of the respondents tested positive for COVID-19 at the time. The fear of the pandemic, in terms of probable health and economic impact, was significantly higher than the actual experience of the pandemic with 6.8 percent reporting loss of employment. Participants who considered religion as very important show a higher psychological wellbeing. Over 12% of the participants believed that the pandemic to be a hoax. The findings showed inclination of the people lay more towards solidarity rather than hostility during these trying times, with at least one third of the respondents identifying with complete solidarity. The findings provide suggestions for health practitioners to communicate more effectively with the public during the crisis.Item Dhivehi digital library creation : a milestone(2011-06) Riyaz, Aminath; Nashfa, FathimathThe MNU Library in affiliation with the Maldives Greenstone support Network (MGN), trialled the creation of a digital library of the Faithoora using Greenstone open source software. With this project, the MGN, in cooperation with University of Waikato, has also introduced Dhivehi language interface for Greenstone software.Item Experiences and concerns during the COVID 19 pandemic a qualitative research with employees in the tourism sector of the Maldives(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2020-08) Adam, Aminath Shafiya; Riyaz, Aminath; Mohamed, Shazla; Sobir, Rania; Abdul Muhaimin, Fathimath Nasiha; Sudha, Aminath; Shadiya, FathimathThe Maldives is a small country, solely, dependent on the tourism sector for its economic growth. The first known case of COVID‑19 in the Maldives was reportedly a tourist from Italy in March 2020. As a result, the government implemented an overseas travel ban. Presumably, the effect of overseas travel ban was inevitable, which resulted in a complete shutdown of resorts. This paper covers a component from a research project conducted March-May 2020, by the Ministry of Economic Development with technical assistance from UNDP, as a rapid livelihood impact assessment of COVID‑19 in the Maldives.The data reported in this paper is concentrated on the qualitative dataset collected to investigate the experiences and concerns of resort employees at the onset of COVID‑19 pandemic. A total of 31 participants across 13 resorts were randomly selected. The data were generated through in-depth interviews which lasted 40-60 minutes either by conference calls or Zoom meetings based on preferred choice of the participants. Detailed notes were made during the conversation and were analysed thematically using the topics from the structured interview guide from the rapid livelihood assessment. The findings highlight the employees’ heightened anxiety about the exposure to COVID‑19 and its possible impact on their health and safety. The findings also highlight the economic impact on the resort workers because of the restrictive pay packages offered by the resorts in dealing with the sudden closure of the resorts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The findings have useful inputs and implications on future strategic plans of small countries such as the Maldives that depend predominantly on a volatile tourism sector susceptible to external shocks such as the unforeseen COVID‑19 pandemic.Item The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the higher education sector of the Maldives: responses and challenges(Maldives National University, 2020-12) Maldives National University; Research Team:; Ismail, Aishath Shaheen; Haleem, Hussain; Raheem, Raheema Abdul; Riyaz, Aminath; Nishan, Fathmath; Shakeeb, Shimna; Ali, Sheeza; Naila, Aishath; Rasheed, Mariyam Fizana; Ahmed, Nadhiya; Musthafa, Hawwa Shiuna; Sattar, Asim Abdul; Najeeb, FazeelThis study was based on the objective of assessing the impact of COVID-19 on all aspects of higher education country-wide, including policy, academic affairs, management and financial responses, and psychological fitness of stakeholders within the higher education sector of the Maldives. The emergency response of the higher education institutions (HEIs) to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of their response on students, staff and the institutions were analysed by collecting data both quantitatively (stakeholder survey questionnaires) and qualitatively (stakeholder interviews). In total, 12 stakeholder interviews were conducted with higher education stakeholders, and 1187 survey questionnaires were filled by students and academic & non-academic staff of HEIs. The findings show adjustments that were made by HEIs and the challenges faced by the students, staff, and the institutions in transitioning to remote online teaching and learning. The HEIs in this study responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in three phases which were: 1) evaluating the impact of the pandemic on teaching and learning of the HEIs; 2) planning for continuity of education during the pandemic; and 3) resuming teaching and learning virtually. To facilitate the remote online teaching and learning virtually, HEIs provided various support to their students; namely, technical support, academic support, and psychological support. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted all HEIs and their stakeholders financially. The main challenges faced by stakeholders during the remote online teaching and learning were found to be issues in internet connectivity, unsuitable home environment, and limited preparedness in the use of information communication technologies in teaching and learning. The findings of this study have implications for higher education institutions in continuing their teaching and learning activities during emergency situations and in future educational programs offered. Further, the findings are significant for higher education policy makers in the Maldives, namely the Ministry of Higher Education and the Maldives Qualification Authority, in the need for emergency preparedness and quick responses to ensure quality of higher education even in the face of a pandemic. 1. BACKGROUND Since December 2019, SARS-COV-2 VIRUS (COVID-19), a highly infectious disease caused by a new virus, has become a major disruption to universities around the world including the Maldives, with most institutions suspending in-person classes and moving to online-only instruction in the wake of this deadly virus. One recommendation made by the health authorities of governments across the world to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, was to maintain an appropriate physical distance between individuals. As a result, to minimize exposure of the students and staff to the COVID-19 virus, several educational institutions across 144 countries were temporarily closed impacting almost 68 percent of the world’s enrolled student population (UNESCO, 2020). The disease imposing mobility restrictions has particularly affected the tertiary education sector. The pandemic has significantly altered nearly every aspect of university operation including teaching and learning, admissions and enrolment to student support service, raising concerns over the quality of higher education provision during the emergency teaching period. According to the International Association of Universities, the total number of students and youth affected are more than 1.5 billion (IAU, 2020). In South Asia Region alone, over 42 million students in 50,000 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of 8 countries are affected by the pandemic (South Asia: Higher Education, 2020). These concerns further extend to the financial future of higher education institutions in a time of financial instability, both in the form of unforeseen costs and potential drops in revenue. Students attending universities and other higher education institutions create a dense network through which infectious diseases can easily spread (Weeden & Benjamin, 2020). As such several measures were put in place by higher education institutions across the globe to secure the wellbeing of their students and staff and to make the disruption to their functions as minimal as possible. These measures were revised multiple times by many institutions as the situation unfolded, for health and safety of staff and students were their priority. Accordingly, the two main changes suggested by the European Association for International Higher Education include the offering of the courses on an online mode or deferring enrolment or the programme to a later term for student affected by the pandemic (EAIE, 2020). To prevent the spread of COVID-19 through their institutions, several HIEs chose to change the vast majority of their courses from face-to-face teaching to remote teaching mostly done online through digital technology. In the United States alone, more than 200 colleges and universities suspended classes and moved online (EAIE, 2020). Some universities that lacked the necessary Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure had to postpone teaching-learning activities until further notice (Policy Brief, 2020). In other universities, facilities such as libraries that closed initially, were later permitted to open with instructions to operate in a COVID-secure way (Higher Education, 2020). The sudden switch to digital technology was not easy. It also induced a lot of stress for the educators and students and made some feel overloaded with work. To ease them, some institutions suspended exams and strengthened the support services to students. Protocols and guiding documents to steer the students and educators through the process of the change were made (South Asia: Higher Education, 2020). The switch to remote education after closing campuses was to ensure educational and research activities were carried on during the pandemic with minimal disruption. This step exposed not only the “digital inequity” of the community but also the shortcomings of the education systems. While access to digital technology and its devices were an issue to some, access to a reliable internet network was an issue to the others. The digital divide was huge even within communities and HEIs were faced with facilitating the means through which digital equipment for the needy staff and students can be arranged (South Asia: Higher Education, 2020). Training of educators in adapting to the use of technology and getting them acquainted with the new mode of teaching came with hurdles. These challenges required immediate attention so as to successfully conduct the remote learning sessions. HEIs had to formulate and run training modules for the educators on online teaching and assessing (Rashid & Yadav, 2020).Item The information culture of the Maldives : an exploratory study of information provision and access in a small island developing state(Curtin University of Technology, Australia, 2009) Riyaz, AminathThe thesis explores the relationship between information culture and development to highlight areas in information provision and access that need to be addressed in the small island developing state of the Maldives. The study uses a mixed methods approach. A quantitative survey of a rural community and the urban community collected data on their information use, access, and awareness. Qualitative in-depth interviews with key information stakeholders in the country supplemented this, giving insightful information on how the relevant issues at hand were being addressed by the relevant government departments. The results reveal that people in the urban capital of the Maldives have much better access to information sources than members of the rural community. The take-up of ICTs is promising and implementation of information services remains a high priority. The survey also found more frequent use of “formal” channels of information by the urban community while the rural community predominantly relies on “verbal” or “informal” information exchange. The identified challenges in the provision of information initiatives include the geographical dispersion of the country, lack of information awareness and information literacy, misalignment of information services with the needs, financial and human resources constraints, and the lack of appropriate information policies. The major conclusions emanating from this study are that the difference in the communities in their information outlook is that of level of access, not in the actual usage, and that there is a strong oral culture of information exchange with a casual reading approach. The results of this study will be useful to inform policy making in addressing the disparities between the rural and urban communities and in the general introduction of information services relevant to the Maldives.Item Library and information science education and training opportunities in Bangladesh and Maldives : a comparison(Maldives Library Association, 2012) Islam, Md Maidul; Riyaz, Aminath; Shiuna, AminathItem Media in the Maldives(SAGE Publications, 2020) Yerbury, Hilary; Shahid, Ahmed; Riyaz, AminathThe 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.Item Parental divorce as a predictor of attachment style in children’s adult intimate relationships: evidence from the Maldives(Maldives National University, 2022-07) Shazra, Aminath; Riyaz, AminathA quantitative analysis was carried out to determine the impact of parental divorce as a predictor of children’s attachment style in their adult intimate relationships using the Experiences in Close Relationship (ECR) Scale in combination with general demographics of the participants as well as their circumstances of the familial relationship with the divorced parents and stepfamilies. The questionnaire was set up using Google Form online tool. The link for the online questionnaire was shared among various social media groups, requesting participants aged 18 and above who have experienced parental divorce in their childhood. A total of 113 completed questionnaires were received (from 24 males and 89 females). The findings from this research construed anxious-preoccupied attachment style as the most prevalent among the participants. The analysis of the results show that these participants have a negative outlook on themselves and a positive outlook on others. The findings also show the importance of devising informed interventions and incorporating them in the relevant laws and policies to tackle the extremely high divorce rate in the Maldives.Item Preserving Mahl dialect and Dhivehi language heritage : digitising and indexing documents of Maldives and Minicoy(G20 Library Summit, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India ޖީ20 ލައިބްރަރީ ސަމިޓު، ޕޮންޑިޗެރީ ޔުނިވަރސިޓީ، ޕުޑުޗެރީ، އިންޑިޔާ, 2024-02) Riyaz, Aminath; އާމިނަތު ރިޔާޒްItem Social value orientations and public confidence in institutions : a young democracy under the imprint of Covid-19(2021) Moosa, Sheena; Riyaz, Aminath; Abdul Raheem, Raheema; Shiuna Musthafa, Hawwa; Zeen Naeem, AishathSocial value orientations (SVOs) of a society determine peoples’ behaviour and are critical for young democracies in crises. This paper draws on the Maldives Values in Crisis survey, conducted during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. SVOs assessed using the Schwartz Personal Values Questionnaire shows that Maldivian society weigh slightly towards prosocial. Urban-rural, age, and gender determine the SVOs on the dimension of Openness to change versus Conservation while age and gender determine the SVOs on Self-enhancement versus Self-transcendence dimension. Confidence in the public institutions were moderate and not associated with the SVOs. The moderate level of SVOs and confidence in institutions reflects the democratic landscape of the country. Although prosocial SVOs are favourable for implementing containment measures of the pandemic, without a strong value orientation towards conservation and self-transcendence, and confidence in the institutions, the country faces the risk of non-compliance to measures and escalation of the crisis.Item Stress and coping resources of divorced women in the Maldives(Maldives National University, 2021-07) Aboobakuru, Shifaza; Riyaz, AminathThe paper explores the stress level and the coping resources utilized by divorced women in the Maldives. While the study is designed as a quantitative investigation, the general objectives are not to generalize findings but to gain an understanding of divorce demographic and coping strategies of women after divorce. The Taylor’s manifest anxiety scale was used to assess stress, and a second questionnaire assesses divorcees’ current situation and their coping strategies. Both the questionnaires were self-administered by 60 participants identified through snowball sampling strategy. The findings show that divorced women exhibit notable psychological stress, with 46.7% of the participants having high stress, 51.7% having low stress and only 1.7% exhibiting no stress. While other unknown stressors in their life cannot be ruled out, the findings suggest that better socioeconomic, cognitive and emotional resources such as education, employment, adequate finance including child maintenance from the father of the child, emotional support from immediate family as well as friends have a positive impact on reducing stress. Contrarily, the findings also show lack of employment, rental expenses, dependency on an external party for child maintenance support, the uncertainties of a new romantic relationship, and the experience from a painful divorce process can have a negative impact on psychological wellbeing. Furthermore, in adjusting to life after divorce, most of the participants seek financial independence through upskilling and employment, while some divorced women seek remarriage for financial and emotional security.Item Survey sampling in the time of social distancing experiences from a quantitative research in the wake of COVID 19 pandemic(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2020-08) Riyaz, Aminath; Musthafa, Hawwa Shiuna; Abdul Raheem, Raheema; Moosa, SheenaThis paper explores the practical difficulties of conducting an online quantitative survey across the Maldives during the COVID‑19 pandemic response to study people’s values in the midst of a crisis, and addresses crisis experience and perception, value orientation, personality traits, social cohesion, and trust in relevant authorities. This paper reports on the methodological component and not on the survey findings. A stratified systematic random sampling approach was used, with stratification on urbanrural clusters (cities and other islands), gender, and age of the population to recruit at least 400 from the urban and 600 participants from the rural communities. To overcome the practical difficulty of accessing households due to restrictive measures across the Maldives and lockdown status in the greater Male’ area, the latest voters’ registry was used to select every nth participant as the sample frame. Participants were recruited through phone calls, and survey instrument shared via social media, achieving a response rate of 87%.The practical difficulties with the sampling approach were different in urbanrural clusters, ranging from securing the phone numbers for prospective participants, nonresponse to phone calls, discrepancies in internet access, and the lack of control on whether the intended participant was in fact the person completing the survey. To overcome these challenges, a mix of probability and non-probability sampling was utilised ensuring not more than one participant was recruited from any household, while adhering to the stratification of gender and age. The statistical findings on the validity and reliability of the data show that the recruited sample is representative of the population. This outcome highlights the adaptability and applicability of established quantitative research methods to a geographically dispersed small island developing state, under nonconventional situations.Item Values in crisis : values under the imprint of Covid-19 pandemic in the Maldives : values in crisis survey (wave 1) summary report(ޔުނައިޓެޑް ނޭޝަަންސް ޑިވެލޮޕްމެންޓް ޕްރޮގްރާމް, 2020) Maldives National University; UNDP; Research team:; Riyaz, Aminath; Moosa, Sheena; Raheem, Raheema Abdul; Musthafa, Hawwa Shiuna