Minister: Six months which eighth graders lost will be regained with the change

Education Minister Dr. Ismail Shafeeu states additional time is secured to cover the syllabus and the sixth months current eighth graders lost will be regained with the Education Ministry’s decision to enroll current eighth graders for O’ Level examination next year.

Education Ministry’s Spokesperson told Sun that current eighth graders will be taught the O’ Level syllabus starting the second term of the current academic year, and thereby, will be enrolled for O’ Level examination in next year’s November.

The decision has sparked concern from parents. Former Education Minister Dr. Aishath Ali said the decision would result in the students losing one whole term of their studies.

Addressing these concerns in a post on Facebook on Thursday night, Minister Shafeeu said the current eighth graders will remain in grade eight till the conclusion of the prevailing academic year, which is tell end of April.

He detailed that they will be in ninth grade from this May, till next year’s February, while they will commence tenth grade in next year’s March and sit for O’ Level examination in November.

Minister Shafeeu said it is the current eighth graders who will benefit the most from the changes made to the academic calendar.

Parents have raised concern over the decision, citing the two years during which students prepare for O’ Level examination as a timeframe crucial to the students while also extremely stressful. They say there is no reason at the time for the students to undergo such difficulty by rushing.

The change was made by the Ministry in order to accommodate shifting the commencement of the academic new year to January starting 2026.