Male’, Maldives — The Education Ministry of Maldives informed that schools will begin, as planned in the academic calendar from January 10th onwards for the students from L.K.G till 12th Grade.
As several questions are still being asked due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic on whether the schools will reopen this year, the Education Ministry tweeted to inform all parents that the second term of the 2020-2021 academic year will begin on January 10th as stated on the academic calendar.
While schools were initially closed for a long period in 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Maldives, they were first reopened on July 01,2020 until a spike in the number of confirmed cases were recently seen from the greater Malé area after the lockdown measures were eased in the city.
Due to the closure of schools, classes could not be kept regularly nor was the syllabus completed. This is why, the government decided to bring a huge change to the academic calendar by announcing that the new academic year will start on August 10 rather than in January, like it has been going on for many years in Maldives.
On January 10th this year, the students will be attending the second term of their academic year rather than a new one.
The Ministry announced that schools will be held for 4-5 hours rather than the usual 12-13 hours as a protective measure from the Covid-19 virus.
For Key Stage 01 (Grades 1,2 & 3), Key Stage 02 (Grades 4,5 & 6) and for Key Stage 03 (Grades 7 & 8) school sessions will be held five days a week for at least 02 hours. Within the given time period for the sessions, schools are instructed to use at least 60 minute of the time to check the temperature of the students, for washing hands and to conduct physical activates in the school.
For the Key Stage students who don’t have to go to school this year will be mandated to attend their online tele classes everyday. The Ministry instructs the students who have online classes despite physical school sessions to attend to their online classes as well.
Schools will only reopen after considering the Covid-19 situation in each island of the country. If the number of active cases are less or none in an island, Ministry informed that education will begin for all students starting from Foundation Stage till 12th Grade. .
