Ministry of Education has announced Edexcel A’Level examinations will go ahead as scheduled in May/June this year.
Speaking at a press conference held to announce the decision, Minister of Education Dr. Aishath Ali said A’Level examinations will commence in the Maldives on May 5 and end on June 17. The minister revealed the exams will be marked and graded by Edexcel, with results expected to be released on August 10. Therefore, she advised all A’Level students to begin preparations for the exams.
Ministry of Education had earlier announced the May/June A’Level exams would not be held this year. In a statement released on February 4, the education ministry said UK’s Pearson had decided not to conduct the A’Level examinations in May/June this year due to the ongoing global situation of COVID-19. However, upon discussions between the government and Edexcel, the Maldives has received permission to conduct the exams as scheduled.
Speaking at the press conference, Deputy Minister of Education Mohamed Ihsan said applications for May/June examinations must be submitted before March 11. He said the application process has to be completed earlier due to the short timeframe available to bring in the examination papers to the Maldives.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, major changes have been brought to the 2020 and 2021 academic calendars. As such, the Cambridge O’Level examinations which were scheduled to be held in October/November last year have been moved to May/June this year. As the 2020 Academic Year could not be completed last year due to the pandemic, the second half of the academic year was moved to this year.