The 2021 academic calendar will begin in the middle of the year.
Education Minister Dr. Aishath Ali revealed this during an interview on RaajjeTV on Saturday night.
As such, she stated that a decision has been made to postpone the 2020 secondary exams from October/November to May/June 2021 due to drawn out school closure following the Covid-19 pandemic. With this, the end of the year exams at the Al Madhrasathul Arabiyyathul Islamiyya have also been postponed to May/June.
Further, all 10th grade students will remain at their respective schools until the end of these exams.
The O’Level exams set for June/July this year has also been postponed till next year.
The education ministry, via a statement, said that this decision to start the 2021 academic calendar in the middle of the year was reached as per the recommendations of the Social Council. It added that discussions are currently ongoing with relevant parties, to determine whether the change will be a permanent one.
While schools have been closed since March following the Covid-19 crisis, authorities have said that they will reopen after the first term holidays “at the earliest”.