The Maldives Correctional Service has begun the process of vacating Malé Prison by the time the new building of Dharumavantha School is completed.
The Ministry of Education plans to start classes in the building with the new academic year in August this year.
The school building, built on vacant land in front of Villa College, is currently undergoing finishing work. At the moment, the biggest concern for parents and the ministry is that the building is next to a prison facility.
Corrections Media Officer, Aminath Yusreen Ahmed, told Mihaaru news on Thursday that the government has been working to transfer the detainees to other incarceration facilities since last year.
She said efforts are now being made to vacate Malé jail before the start of the new academic year.
"We are trying to finish the process up before the school opens," she said.
Yusreen also said that the inmates of Malé Prison and those detained there are currently being transferred to Hulhumalé Prison and Maafushi Prison.
The jail currently has over 100 inmates.
The Home Ministry had earlier assured the public that there would be no inmates in Malé jail when the academic year begins. The new building of Dharumavantha School will have 41 classrooms with 25 students in each class. Built to accommodate a population of more than a thousand students, the school will also have a two-storey library dedicated to primary and secondary students, the ministry said.
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