Building of Dharumavantha School hall to begin next year: Min

Minister of Education Dr Ismail Shafeeu has said that construction of the Dharumavantha School hall on the land allocated from the former premises of Male' Prison can be commenced next year.

Parents had raised concerns about the lack of a school hall even back in July last year when the school was first opened. The Ministry had decided then that a hall would be built on the site which housed the Male' Prison after it was taken out of use.

Although use of the prison had been discontinued once this administration came into office, no work has been conducted to build the hall so far. In parliament today, Minister Shafeeu was questioned as to why work has not commenced.

Shafeeu responded that he, too, accepted that there is a need for a hall in the school. He said that although the previous government had decided to build a hall where the prison had been located, no work had been done to implement this.

"There are records [of what was done]. In April 2023, Education Ministry has sent a letter to the Home Ministry stating that a structure with a hall has to be built after vacating the prison. They even requested for the registry to be changed. However, that remained not done," Shafeeu explained.

"Then again, on November 1, 2023, Education Ministry once again sent a letter to the Home Ministry. They said it is absolutely necessary to build a hall where the prison was located, that studying has commenced at the school, and [the lack of a hall] poses inconvenience to the students."

The response from the Home Ministry to the last letter was sent two days before the previous administration came to an end, on November 15. The response said that no solution had been found yet in relocating prisoners housed in the Male' Prison to another location.

"Even the proposed budget for 2024 had no allocation for the building of this hall. This is why work was not commenced even in 2024," the Minister said.

With Izzudheen School having been closed due to structural issues in the building, students who studied there have also been now transferred to Dharumavantha School. With this, approximately 1700 students are now studying at Dharumavantha School. With the lack of a school hall, at present, any gatherings or assemblies are held on the compound between the two blocks in school.