Schools will remain closed until the impact of the Tonga eruption and weather situation clears - Sayed-Khaiyum

Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says schools will remain closed until they are sure that the impacts of the eruption in Tonga have cleared our waters because they may need to reactivate some of the evacuation centres.

Sayed-Khaiyum has also made it clear that they intend to re-open schools for Year 8 to 13 students once the weather clears.

He says over the past 8 months when schools around the country were closed, over 200,000 students lost more than 1,000 hours of in-person learning each.

Sayed-Khaiyum says that is 200 million hours of lost in-person learning and we cannot afford many more.

He adds supported by clear COVID-19 protocols for classroom safety developed with UNICEF and the World Health Organization, the dates for the re-opening of schools will be announced once all evacuation centres are cleared and the warnings on tsunamis and all weather systems are lifted.