President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has urged top achievement winners to pursue knowledge in fields essential for national development.

He said this during the ‘Top Achievers' Award 2020-2021’ ceremony held on Wednesday evening.

As such, taking the podium at the event, President Solih called on the winners to seek knowledge and specialize in fields crucial for national development.

Going on to offer advice to the students to be aware of current affairs as well as the circulation of different ideologies and to be vigilant towards the different tides surrounding students, the president urged the students to use their youth to uphold and promote Islamic values and patriotism.

President Solih attributed the success of top achievers to the hard work and dedication of the schools and parents and went on to acknowledge the struggles of teachers and parents through the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

These struggles and the resilient efforts to power through them, resulted in students attaining “outstanding” results in the international stage, he said, going on to extend her gratitude to the teachers and parents for these results, crediting them with their “dedication” and “hard” work.

Further, the president shed light on the significance of paving opportunities for students to deliver results and service to the nation and went on to highlight the achievements of the administration's decentralization policies.

President Solih also urged students to consider working and serving the country at the comfort of their home islands, closer to their parents and families.

He also shed light on the incumbent administration’s initiatives to modernize and advance the education sector.

Students from the Maldives broke records during the higher secondary and secondary examinations in 2020-2021, with 5,955 students having taken Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and secondary examinations in the academic year.

In addition to this, 2,641 more students took the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and higher secondary examinations with 757 students in the secondary examinations being among the national top 10 rankings.

13 students from the Maldives were in the world's top 10 for individual subject achievements and six students won the High Achievement Award.

348 students were placed in the national top 10 in the higher secondary examinations, with 41 students winning places in the world's top 10 for individual subject achievements.

Wednesday’s ‘Top Achievers’ Award’ ceremony was joined by First Lady Fazna Ahmed and Vice President Faisal Naseem.