Member of Parliament for Dhiggaru Constituency Ikram Hassan says that teachers, by the very nature of their jobs, must remain apolitical and if they are to voice political opinions, then they must resign their jobs.
The MP, who hails from the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), made the tweet following the Ministry of Education’s decision to suspend a teacher from Arabiyaa School over his views on the India Out campaign.
In his tweet posted in Dhivehi, MP Ikram said that those teachers engaging in political discourse needs to resign their jobs and go into politics full time.
The teacher in question, Zamzam Farish, was suspended on Thursday. A signed order from Ahmed Ali, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, said that Farish had violated civil service conduct by posting inflammatory tweets against President Ibraihm Mohamed Solih’s decree criminalizing the “India Out” movement and in support of the movement.
The notice also said that the teacher had been warned on a previous occasion over similar postings. Ministry of Education said that his tweets were divisive, supportive of violence and division, and, as such, was suspended for the duration of the investigation.