Schools in the Maldives would be required to provide at least 195 days of teaching each year under a proposed amendment to the Education Act.

Huraa MP Dr Anara Naeem has proposed the amendment, which would set a minimum of 195 teaching days in the academic year, excluding public holidays and school holidays.

Education Minister Dr Ismail Shafeeu said this was the first time the academic year and minimum teaching days had been explicitly stipulated in law.

He said Maldives currently had no legally established minimum number of teaching days, although schools had generally followed a schedule close to the proposed target.

“There is no minimum teaching day in the Maldives. So the minimum number of teaching days should be fixed,” he said.

Minister Shafeeu said the amendment would introduce a legal requirement for schools to provide at least 195 days of teaching annually. He noted that the minimum requirement in the UK was 190 teaching days.

Under next year's academic calendar, schools are scheduled to provide 163 days of teaching while remaining open for 201 days. The minister said the calendar had been designed to ensure that the minimum teaching requirement was met.

The proposed bill also seeks to establish January as the start of the academic year. If the academic year cannot begin in January for any reason, it must commence before the end of February.