Volume 8, number 1, August 2020
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Item Editorial(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2020-08) Najeeb, FazeelItem Application of law in employment contracts practices, considerations and recommendations(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2020-08) Waheeda, FathmathThe COVID‑19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented changes to our daily life. It has impacted the whole world and has forced governments to take extreme measures, ravel restrictions were imposed from late February on tourists from the largest tourist markets and the decisions taken to suspend issuing of arrival visas. This has a tremendous impact and halted the tourist operations in the country. In the Maldives, 45,000 employees were affected due to the COVID‑19 pandemic. This article looks at the different measures adopted by the companies in the tourism industry within the legal arena of contract law and the employment law. This analysis was conducted through interviews with employees on measures undertaken, and the procedure followed to implement the measures. The results show that, the employer acted in good faith; however the adherence to legal principles were weak within the industry.Item Self-sufficiency in food : prospects on the island of Fuwahmulah, Maldives(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2020-08) Najeeb, Fazeel; Hassan, RifaathThis article presents the findings of a study aimed at assessing prospects for self-sufficiency in food on the island of Fuwahmulah, Maldives. A mixed research methodology combining a survey on a representative sample and key informant interviews was used to elicit responses from households and crop growers respectively on their existing staple food items, perceptional suitability of locally grown crops as staple food and key issues affecting the cultivation of crops on the island. The research finds that the top three items consumed as staple foods in households are imported produce and items. Responses also indicate that locally-grown crops are perceived as suitable staple food for the island folks. The research concludes that prospects exist for a significant level of self-sufficiency which may be achievable with needed support.Item The tourism industry of the Maldives, – have we gone beyond ‘regulatory capture’?(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2020-08) Shakoor, Ibrahim AthifSince the introduction of the concept of ‘regulatory capture’ by George Stigler in 1971, there has been ample evidence, published globally, on how world class companies and powerful industries influence, and otherwise prompt regulators to act in a manner favorable to them. The Maldivian tourism industry is the biggest industry in the Maldivian economy. While few other industries like construction, transport, and communication have made modest contributions in the economy lately, much of the vigor and verve of these emerging industries too, depend on the vitality of the tourism industry. The tourism industry is not only the biggest industry, it is also the biggest employer and the steward of largest swaths of land allocated for economic activity. Even though this article is written as an opinion piece, appropriate evidence to aptly suggest ‘regulatory capture’ by the tourism industry is offered. Also because of its virtual dominance in the economy the question whether the industry might have gone beyond ‘regulatory capture’ will beraised.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 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 Remote Online Teaching (ROT) in response to COVID 19 pandemic : exploring instructors’ experience(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2020-08) Shakeeb, ShimnaDue to COVID‑19 pandemic, the whole world has experienced a rapid, mass university closure and a forced transition to online teaching to minimise disruptions to the academic year. The quick transition from in-person to online teaching is presumed to be a challenging endeavour for many novice online instructors, and it is a ‘grand experiment’ that needs to be explored.Purpose and Research question: The aim of this research was to explore the Maldivian instructors’ experience of the COVID‑19 forced transitioning to remote online teaching. The research was guided by five central questions intended to gauge information focusing on teaching and learning and assessment strategies, support received, challenges and concerns, students’ reactions to the new learning experience, and recommendations from the instructors. Methodology: The study followed a qualitative multiple-case study approach exploring the emergency remote online teaching experience of 7 instructors from three different higher education institutions that adopted a remote online learning strategy to allow educational continuity. Participants were selected through purposive convenience and snowball sampling method. The source of data for this research was a completed semi-structured interview questionnaire and a phone interview conducted to confirm the information provided when deemed necessary. Manual thematic coding was applied to analyse open responses, and precoded aspects adopted from literature were analysed for its absence or presence in each of the cases. Cross and within case and institution analysis was performed to enable a coherent discussion.Findings: The findings of the study revealed that many instructors adopted a variety of strategies fit for an emergency online learning context and the main form of support was focused on technology integration rather than online pedagogy. The mains concerns identified related to student disengagement, instructor and student readiness and scepticism around online teaching influenced by traditional pedagogy.Conclusion and recommendations: Going forward, online teaching has to be carefully planned, systematically designed, to be effective. Instructors need to be supported to reformulate their teaching philosophy and develop competencies necessary for online teaching.Item Evaluation of an online learning package developed to support the COVID-19 response of nurses working in regional and atoll hospitals in the Maldives(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2020-08) Ibrahim, Asiya; Shafia, Aminath; Mohamed, SiznaIn the global crisis of COVID-19 pandemic and the unparalleled health emergency, nurses are the largest healthcare professional group providing frontline care in hospitals as well as other areas such as quarantine and isolation facilities. Additionally, due to the nurses’ vital role in the care and management of the COVID‑19 patients it is important that lifesaving information is delivered to them as well as other health professionals. Hence, School of Nursing (SN), Maldives National University (MNU) developed a short online learning course on nursing care of COVID‑19 patients as per the request of the Ministry of Health (MoH), Maldives. The aim of the research was to evaluate the online learning package developed in the Maldivian context for nurses with little or no previous knowledge and skills in the care of COVID‑19 patients. A cross sectional online questionnaire survey was used to collect data and an exploratory analysis was conducted. The quantitative findings showed that majority of nurses found the learning package more than satisfactory in each aspect evaluated. The overall consensus of the qualitative findings were the participants found learning online very helpful and informative. Therefore, the findings of this study can be considered as a useful baseline for developing short term online courses to address learning needs in emergency situations such as pandemics.Item Maldivian healthcare workers’ experience during COVID‑19 pandemic(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2020-08) Hassan, SalmaCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) is caused by a new coronavirus reported from Wuhan City, China. On 31st December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) China office was informed of cases of pneumonia of an unknown etiology which was detected in Wuhan city in Hubei Province, central China. By early January 2020, WHO released a statement regarding a novel coronavirus identified in patients admitted with pneumonia. This highly infectious disease spread at an alarming rate in many countries and became a global pandemic. It was declared as a pandemic by the WHO on 12th March 2020. The global pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID‑19) has affected different people in many ways. According to Health Protection Agency (HPA) of the Maldives, the government has been preparing for this pandemic from the 5th of January 2020 when WHO initially announced the outbreak of this deadly disease. Since then the government has taken a range of preventive measures and continues to do it. HPA has been advising people regarding the importance of infection preventive measures at an individual and a community level.Item Perception of e-learning among medical students of the Maldives National University, Republic of Maldives, during COVID‑19 pandemic(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2020-08) Yadav, Shekar Kumar; Zubair, ShaisthaIntroduction: The outbreak of COVID‑19 has led to the closure of medical schools all over the world. Maldives National University (MNU), School of Medicine adopted Electronic learning (e-learning) to prevent educational disruption. Adopting e-learning needs a clear understanding of the student’s characteristics, perception and local culture. This study aims to find out medical students’ perception of e-learning mode, effectiveness and their readiness to its adoption in a blended environment along with face-to-face learning.