Malé, Maldives — The Ministry of Education revealed on Saturday that Physical classes will not be held for students in Grades 6 and below in the greater Malé area.
Dr. Abdullah Rasheed, the State Minister for Education stated in a press conference held by the Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC) that although the government has decided to halt the physical classes for students, their online classes will still continue for the students in Malé. The Education Minister further revealed that they have prepared a plan to keep online classes for all the students in case they face a surge for the third time in the number of confirmed cases in the region, although it is much unlikely for another surge to take place since the number of confirmed cases have decreased by a great extent from three digit numbers to two digits, despite having the lockdown measures eased.
While physical classes for students from grades 9 and above has already commenced, the Ministry stated that classes for students in the grades seven and eight will resume as scheduled. The classes for the students in grade eight are scheduled to be reopened on October 19 and classes are to be reopened for the students in grade seven on October 25.
While there is still a community spread in the island nation, to ensure that the children are protected from the virus and to contain the spread of Covid-19,the Education Ministry has set strict Health Protection Agency guidelines in all the schools nationwide.
Some of these guidelines are strict observation of social distancing within classrooms and screen students for their temperature when entering the school premises. The schools will also be encouraging students to wash their hands regularly. Masks are mandatory for everyone in the school premises.
Till date, the country has recorded a total of 11,178 confirmed cases in the country, out of which there are only 1,038 active cases at the moment. While 10,097 people have completely recovered from the virus, 37 people have passed away from it.
