US Schools Observe Eid
After years of only having Christian holidays on calendars, more schools in the US state of New Jersey have decided to observe major Muslim feasts as holidays, putting their Muslim students on equal terms with Christian and Jewish peers.
"This is really a trend that is taking off," Hani Y. Awadallah, a chemistry professor at Montclair State University, told the New York Times on Sunday, October 7.
Awadallah, who is the president of the 10-year-old Arab American Civic Organization, said several New Jersey districts have thousands of Muslim students.
The state itself has a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 400,000.
"I think you will see this across the country," he said of the school holidays.
Paterson and Trenton were among the first districts to observe Muslim holidays.
Trenton began taking off a day for the end of Ramadan in the early 1990s, while Paterson put `Eid Al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, on its calendar in the mid-1990s.
In 1999, `Eid Al-Adha, which marks the end of the annual hajj to Makkah, was added.
Atlantic City has also added two Muslim holidays to its school calendar in the last three years.
And this year, for the first time, Cliffside Park School District will close Thursday, October 11, to observe the end of Ramadan.
These districts "have come a long way," said Afsheen Shamsi, community relations director for the New Jersey office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
"We are hoping that more school districts will take off the Muslim holidays."
America is home to nearly seven million Muslims.
Teachers say the religious holidays do not mean that schools are closing to celebrate a certain feast, but rather to make sure that the absent students would not miss their lessons on this school day.
"We started to look at the trends and number of students absent," said James F. Barriale, the superintendent of Prospect Part, which decided in 2003 to take off the first and last days of Ramadan with Muslim students representing 25 percent of the overall 840 students in the district.
"We were reteaching a lot of the lessons, and then you are basically wasting the day. We received compliments on this. Now the kids aren’t missing lessons."
Dr. Awadallah, the chemistry professor, agreed that the issue was not about a school celebrating holidays, but about students missing instruction time.
Robert H. Holster, the Passaic district superintendent, said the authorized absence of teachers and staffers on their religious festivals trigger a serious shortage, which affects academics.
"It’s the staffing. If I had school on a Jewish holiday, I’d need at least 100 substitutes."
Source:IOL
Awadallah, who is the president of the 10-year-old Arab American Civic Organization, said several New Jersey districts have thousands of Muslim students.
The state itself has a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 400,000.
"I think you will see this across the country," he said of the school holidays.
Paterson and Trenton were among the first districts to observe Muslim holidays.
Trenton began taking off a day for the end of Ramadan in the early 1990s, while Paterson put `Eid Al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, on its calendar in the mid-1990s.
In 1999, `Eid Al-Adha, which marks the end of the annual hajj to Makkah, was added.
Atlantic City has also added two Muslim holidays to its school calendar in the last three years.
And this year, for the first time, Cliffside Park School District will close Thursday, October 11, to observe the end of Ramadan.
These districts "have come a long way," said Afsheen Shamsi, community relations director for the New Jersey office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
"We are hoping that more school districts will take off the Muslim holidays."
America is home to nearly seven million Muslims.
Teachers say the religious holidays do not mean that schools are closing to celebrate a certain feast, but rather to make sure that the absent students would not miss their lessons on this school day.
"We started to look at the trends and number of students absent," said James F. Barriale, the superintendent of Prospect Part, which decided in 2003 to take off the first and last days of Ramadan with Muslim students representing 25 percent of the overall 840 students in the district.
"We were reteaching a lot of the lessons, and then you are basically wasting the day. We received compliments on this. Now the kids aren’t missing lessons."
Dr. Awadallah, the chemistry professor, agreed that the issue was not about a school celebrating holidays, but about students missing instruction time.
Robert H. Holster, the Passaic district superintendent, said the authorized absence of teachers and staffers on their religious festivals trigger a serious shortage, which affects academics.
"It’s the staffing. If I had school on a Jewish holiday, I’d need at least 100 substitutes."
Source:IOL
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