Academic new year 2021 to begin mid-year

Education Ministry announced on Wednesday that the academic new year 2021 will begin mid-year.

Schools in Maldives were shut down in response to the coronavirus outbreak from March to July, and while school’s partially reopened in July, schooling hours have been cut short, and Google and tele-classes are held on a daily basis to help the students cover their syllabus.

O’ Level and A’ Level exams have also been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The tentative academic calendar shared by the Education Ministry with the school managements show the academic new year 2021 will begin either in August or September of the year.

Education Ministry has stated that the calendar is a “working calendar”, and that the dates on it are subject to changes.

While the date when the academic new year 2021 will begin remains unconfirmed, Education Ministry has stated that it will be sometime in the middle of the year.

Deputy Education Minister Mohamed Ihsan told Sun on Wednesday afternoon that the Education Ministry is engaged in discussions with relevant parties to finalize the academic calendar.

Ihsan said the academic calendar for 2022 will be composed based on the final changes made to the tentative calendar composed for 2021.

“We have been forced to extend the current academic year due to COVID. The current academic year will end in May/June, once the A’ Level and O’ Level exams are concluded.  After that, the students will go on break, and the academic new year 2021 will begin,” he said.

Ihsan said that a decision on making the beginning of the academic new year a permanent change will be made after the Education Ministry gauges the public opinion regarding the subject.