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On 2nd of April GIS marked World Autism Awareness Day. This year GIS had an autism awareness slogan which was “Balaigannan” meaning “I accept”. The slogan signifies the urgency given by GIS to create a community that is sensitive to Special Education Needs and to inculcate in our children an attitude of acceptance. Moreover, according to United Nations the theme for this year is "Empowering Women and Girls with Autism”.

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On 22nd March 2018, GIS yet again brought something new to the Maldivian education platform - the Student - Led Conference. Unlike the traditional parent teacher meetings that has been the norm, to inquire about their children's progress in school, the student -led conference allows the students to take charge of their learning and explain to parents about their academic progress.  This helps the students to take accountability for their learning, improve commitment to school work, make realistic goals which the students can take ownership of, increase their self confidence as well as promote greater student /parent communication.  It is a widely popular and accepted global trend in education and is practiced in many countries. 

GIS, being a Leader in Me school, has been working towards this change since last year and with a lot of planning and preparation, the conference was successfully implemented with a lot of positive feedback from parents. 

In this student - led conference, the students talked about their targets, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they are going to improve on their study habits. Teachers helped and guided the students while they were in the conference and parents were very supportive by being inquisitive and encouraging . It was a collaborative effort to help students to be proactive and to take accountability of their learning. This would be one of the building blocks to produce future leaders.