Education calendar shift moves O-Level exams to October

The General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (O-Level) examination will be held in October and November this year, marking the first such change in five years.

The O-Level examination has traditionally been conducted at the end of the academic year. However, changes to the education calendar following the COVID-19 pandemic altered long-standing examination schedules.

After the pandemic, the academic year in the Maldives was shifted to begin in the middle of the year. The current administration later announced plans to revert the academic calendar to begin in January, in line with previous practice. This adjustment affected the timing of national examinations, including the O-Level.

As part of the revised schedule, the 2020 O-Level examination was postponed to May and June. The 2022 examination was held in May. Following further calendar adjustments, the O-Level examination was conducted in April for the past three years.

Education authorities have said that if the academic year begins in January as planned, students would have limited preparation time for the O-Level examination. To address this, Cambridge syllabus subjects were introduced to Grade 8 students in early 2024. Previously, these subjects were taught starting in Grade 9.

According to current enrolment data, students who were in Grade 10 last year sat their O-Level examination on 28 of last month. Students who began Grade 10 in the new academic year will have approximately eight months to prepare for the examination, including school holidays.

The Advanced Level (A-Level) examination is currently held in October and November. With the revised schedule, both the O-Level and A-Level examinations are expected to be conducted during the same period this year.