A Rush of Emotions as Schools Welcome Children Back

My nieces and nephews, aged 6 through 15 years, were overjoyed when schools were closed in March last year. Little did their minds comprehend that a global pandemic had brought the world to a halt and blanketed it with uncertainty for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, we adapted with time and education in Maldives saw numerous changes being brought about to the system in order to keep it functioning.

Parents and teachers joined forces to facilitate online classes, ministries coordinated safety guidelines and SOPs, in other words, ‘education’ reformed. Meanwhile, it took about a month for the children at my home to finally miss the physical interactions in a school environment. One of the most significant things that happened was how parents had to take over the role of teachers who were going out of their way to train, re-evaluate and teach online classes.

Some time after the initial lockdown, classes were resumed in the Greater Male’ Region but for students from grade 7 to 12 only. Today, schools all around the country has commenced its studies from Baby Nursery to Grade 12 for the second term with exception of 3 islands currently in monitoring status.

All schools are to follow strict safety guidelines set by H.P.A and Ministry of Education at all times to ensure the safety of everyone. Masks must be worn by teachers and students at all times and social distancing and hand-washing must be practiced without fail. Parents were instructed to teach the importance of all these practices to children while in school but, it was worrisome to many about how much the joy of back to school can be restrained.

Minister of Education, Aishath Ali encourages parents to take this leap of faith as the ministry ensures all measures are in place for students to return back to a safe and secure environment in school. These measures will be regularly monitored and maintained with utmost importance. Parents do keep in mind to check for vitals before sending children to school. She also highlights that we need to recover students’ mental health back to the familiarity of a school environment.

Schools welcomed students with open arms and warm wishes this morning. Sessions are to be carried out for no longer than 5 hours in a day, some schools adapting a every-other-day classes system. The second term currently in session will end on June 24, 2021. Annual school year is changed to begin in the middle of the year, unlike how it has been for my whole lifetime, starting in January. This year, the annual calendar will commence a new year on August 10.

We at Coral Glass are as excited as the young ones heading back to school and we wish students, parents, teachers and everyone who is a part of the education system a safe and successful year!