Corrections asked to vacate Male jail, relocate prisoners

Corrections service has been asked to vacate Male Prison which is adjacent to the new Dharumavantha School building.

The new Dharmavantha School, which is being constructed on a vacant plot in front of Villa College, is set to start teaching with the New Academic Year. The new academic year will begin in August.

The jail has now been asked to vacate before the school reopens and resumes classes. 

Commissioner of Prisons Ahmed Mohamed told Atoll Times on Wednesday that following the directive, the process of vacating the prison has been going on since last year and no deadline has been given to vacate the prison. He said:

Students of Dharumavantha School have been studying in a makeshift building since 2016 as the building of Dharumavantha School was too dilapidated and it was not safe to teach there.

In 2020, the construction of the new building of Dharumavantha School was handed over to SJ Construction for completion within a year. However, due to various reasons, the work got prolonged and the school could not be completed.

After the design of the building was changed, it was asked to extend the deadline and complete it by July last year.  While the ministry is yet to announce the exact date for the reopening of the school, the ministry had earlier informed parents that they were planning to shift the school to the new building with the academic year.

The school, which is divided into two blocks: