The end of the next academic year coincides with Ramadan due to efforts to change the long annual holidays to December, the Education Ministry has said.
According to the revised academic calendar made public by the Education Ministry, schools will reopen for the new academic on May 26. The first term will end on September 26.
The second term will be from October 6 this year to March 6, 2025, according to the new calendar. Students will have the year-end annual holidays from March 9, 2025 to April 3, 2025.
Next year’s Ramadan and Eid falls during the school holidays. Next year’s Ramadan begins on March 1.
Speaking to Adhadhu about the change on Tuesday, Education Minister Dr. Ismail Shafeeu said that the President had not decided to close government offices for the last 10 days of Ramadan when the school holidays were first proposed and included in the manifesto.
The revisions made to the calendar were necessary as part of the ministry’s efforts to change the start of the academic year to January, the minister said.
“We have changed next year’s academic year to change the academic year to January. When we made the tentative [calendar], we decided on February 23 as the day for the end of the year. At the time, the President hadn’t decided that the last 10 [days of Ramadan] would be holidays,” Minister Shafeeu said.
When the Education Ministry initially devised the upcoming new academic year’s calendar, the year-end holiday was from February 23, 2025 to March 9, 2025.
Minister Shafeeu said the year-end holiday was changed to run from March 9, 2025 to April 3, 2025 because it was better than having the holidays for the last 10 days of Ramadan a week after studies resume.
As the number of days in the year-end holiday increases with the change made to the calendar, the next academic year was extended from 180 days to 190 days.
“What happens when the last 10 are closed is that when we open on March 9, the last 10 holidays come again 10 days after that. It would be much better, wouldn’t it, to end the year during the first week of Ramadan and close for the whole of Ramadan. The holiday is extended and all the weeks of Ramadan except one is closed. And the term as well is extended to 190 days,” he said.
The minister denied speculation about changes made to the entire academic calendar. The effort the ministry made with the change was to connect the holiday to the last 10 days in line with President Muizzu’s decision.
However, teachers and parents have concerns about the end of the next academic year and school holidays coinciding with Ramadan.
Expressing concern, a Hiriya school teacher who spoke to Adhadhu said the holiday was a short period that teachers and students had to travel and enjoy entertainment. The deprivation of that opportunity because the year-end holiday coincides with Ramadan was a concern shared by teachers and parents, the teacher noted.
The academic year in the Maldives traditionally begins in January. But in the wake of school closures and difficulties due to covid, the previous government decided to extend studies and begin the new academic year in August.
