Classrooms empty as Maldives reopens schools

Despite the uncontrolled spread of swine flu throughout the Maldives, the government on Sunday reopened schools to a dismally low turnout of students.

The number of students that attended the morning sessions of schools was as low as less than 20 percent of student populations while some classrooms were completely empty.

According to unofficial information provided by teachers and senior officials of some schools on condition of anonymity, only 10 students of grade six and 12 of grade seven attended one school, while in another only 23 out of 150 grade six students and 30 out of 147 grade seven students turned up. School officials added that most classrooms have only a couple of students with maximum seven or eight students in classes with the highest turnout.

“There will be even fewer students in the afternoon session since it’s the one for younger children,” said a teacher. “We can’t teach at this point.”

A top official of the education sector added that only 300 students attended one school out of its student population of 1,600.

“A lot of teachers didn’t turn up at school either, with various excuses,” said the official.

Meanwhile, parents have been raising concerns over the government’s decision to reopen schools despite the swine flu epidemic still spreading across the archipelago. Following the death of the fourth person to die of the disease on Saturday while the number of people that tested positive for the H1N1 virus has reached over 180, parents have been declaring on social media that they will not send their children to school despite classes resuming.

Many parents are calling it a politically motivated decision by the government. They are backing their argument with a document that was published on social media, which appears to be the Technical Advisory Committee urging the Ministry of Education to close the schools of capital Male this week since swine flu is still uncontrolled. The document added that with regards to schools in the atolls, the ministry should reopen only the schools determined after the Health Protection Agency (HPA) completes its assessments on the rate at which swine flu is spreading.

Neither the Education Ministry nor Health Ministry has confirmed whether the document is the decision of the Technical Advisory Committee. However, the Education Minister has declared that the decision to resume schools was based on HPA’s counsel.

Parents are calling on the government to refrain from using the health of children as a political tool.