Scaling Impact of a Play-Based Child-to-Child Approach to make Pre-school to Primary School Transition Fun and Inclusive (SIPCA) – a research project funded by GPE-KIX, IDRC successfully held the SIPCA Maldives Uptake Forum 1, at the Islamic University of Maldives on 12th July 2025. The project is a joint venture between the Islamic University of Maldives, Aga Khan University, Pakistan and the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The initiative is led by Dr. Mariyam Shareefa, Assistant Professor and coordinated by Dr. Visal Moosa, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation of Islamic University of Maldives.
This forum brought together educators, researchers, and policy makers to share experiences and insights from the implementation of the Play-Based Child-to-Child model in the local schools of Maldives.
Teachers from the 10 participating schools in the SIPCA project across the Maldives presented their experiences, highlighting the benefits, excitements and challenges encountered in implementing the model so far. Principals and senior management members of the SIPCA Schools also joined to support their teachers and share their perspectives.
The forum was further enriched by the presence of officials from the Ministry of Education, NIE, KIX committee members (Maldives), management members from Male’ schools and Management members and lecturers from IUM, as well as the SIPCA project co-investigators from Agha Khan University, Pakistan and the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
During the forum, in addition to the implementation experiences from the schools, a panel discussion on the International Perspectives on implementing Play-Based Child-to-Child model in the classrooms was held. The panelists were the co-investigators from Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The participants and stakeholders had a meaningful discussion, exchange of ideas and reflections during the forum, further advancing the vision and inclusive and playful learning.
