The Education Ministry has decided that schools are to reopen after being closed off for 10 days and then again for another three, due to the recent H1N1 outbreak on Sunday.

The ministry had reconvened school sessions last Sunday and Monday but repealed this decision following low student turnout. 

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has announced that the outbreak is now subsiding. 

The national committee on pandemics last Monday said the ministry would once again suspend academic sessions.

At a press conference, Adam Shareef Umar - the Minister of Defence and National Security, said this decision was based on low student turnout on the two days that schools had reconvened for. 

He cited parents’ hesitation to send their children to school as the reason for reinstating the suspension on school sessions. 

“Maldivians are lovers of knowledge and education, and we the government truly value instilling these values in our children – schools were opened so students would have to take fewer extra classes to catch up with the syllabus” he said.