Ministry of Home Affairs has revealed that the Male’ Prison will be vacated before the start of the new academic year on August 7.
The new building of Dharumavantha School is being constructed in the vacant land between Male' Prison and Villa College. While the finishing work is now ongoing at the premises, parents and the Ministry of Education have expressed concern over the school being close to Male’ Prison.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Ali Nazeer said the ministry is working to vacate the prison and he gave his assurance that no prisoner would be left in the building by the start of the new academic year. He said that the prisoners will be moved to other prisons, and that some might be relocated to Hulhumale’.
The new Dharumavantha School is being developed as the first school under the concept of holistic education. The school will have 41 classrooms with a capacity of 25 students per classroom.
Dharumavantha School was established to solve the issues faced by Majeediyya School due to lack of space. As such, Majeediyya School was divided to form Dharumavantha School in 2002. In 2016, a temporary building was constructed next to Velanaage Building to shift Dharumavantha School due to the poor condition of the school.