The government plans to re-open pre-schools in September as the country prepares to adapt to life in the ‘new normal’ in its fight against global Pandemic Covid-19.
It has been revealed to ‘The Press’ that along with pre-schools, daycare centers, tuition classes, and Quran classes will all resume in September.
But students of higher grades would be allowed back to schools before September.
Re-opening of pre-schools in September falls under the third phase of the easing of restrictive measures currently in place to combat Covid-19.
The government had announced the phase one yesterday noting that this phase would last for a month and would afford more businesses the permission to operate the lockdown of Male’ area.
The government had further separated the first phase into periods of two weeks and said that schools would not be re-opened in the first two weeks of phase 1.
It had also decided that in islands with no Covid-19 cases, the schools would be re-opened in the last two weeks of phase one under strict guidelines set by the Health Ministry.
The second phase lasts for two months that is separated into four periods with two weeks counted in each period. The second phase would cover both July as well as august.
In July, students of Key Stage 4 and 5 would be allowed to go back to school. These are grades 9 and above. Schools in the islands would restart in this phase.
Students of Key stage 3 (grades 7 & 8) would be allowed to go back to school in the third week of July while students of key stages 1 and 2 (from grade 1 to 6) would be allowed to go back only in August of this year
It has also been revealed that restrictive measures would be taken when the schools re-open including limiting the number of students in a classroom, screening students when they enter schools, advising students and teachers to wear masks to school, and also suspend extra activities and assemblies.
Also, the government’s directive states that social distancing should be maintained even in the classrooms and that classrooms should be disinfected after use while it should also provide a way for students to wash their hands.
