Eid Al-Fitr to Be Added to School Calendar in Pennsylvania District
It will be added beginning with the 2023-24 school year.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, a 30 day period where Muslims demonstrate the act of giving and friendship by fasting from sunrise to sunset and distributing the meat to family, friends, the poor and homeless. Eid is marked by prayers, family gatherings, presents and big meals.
Iman Azeez, a rising junior at Council Rock High School South, asked the board during public comment on July 21 to consider adding the holiday to the 2022-23 school calendar.
Eid will fall on April 21 in 2023.
"Over the past five years of being in this district, I have been provided vast opportunities to expand my education, but this came at the expense of my character," she said. "From names like towel head to terrorist, my once peaceful religion has been exploited stemming from the lack of knowledge of religious diversity. And that is why I'm here today proposing my initiative to get Eid-Al-Fitr as an official holiday."
Eid-Al-Fitr, or Eid, is an extremely important holiday in Islam as it is the celebration of the end of Ramadan, said Azeez.
Eid is celebrated similarly to Christmas with prayers at the Mosque in the morning and celebrations with family and friends for the rest of the day.
"Eid is the most auspicious holiday for Muslims. To celebrate this holiday properly many students take the day off of school. However, the older they get the more inaccessible this is," she said. "Missing one day of school work you have six classes and homework to make up usually the following day, especially for AP and honors students."
As a result, she said, many students chose not to take the day off and willingly go to school because they are stressed about missing work.
"The students of Council Rock should not be obligated to make the decision of missing an important religious holiday in fears of piles of homework," said Azeez. "In the past few years, Council Rock has gotten Diwali off as a calendar holiday, and I believe that this holiday is equally as important as all of the Christian, Jewish, and Hindu holidays that we get off."
Azeez said many other school districts have already started to recognize Eid as a holiday on their calendars. North Penn, the Bristol School District and Philadelphia all have Eid off.
"Since getting Diwali off a few years ago, my education on Hinduism has vastly increased," said Azeez. "And I found this occurring with many other students. My hope is that similarly having Eid off will provide the same opportunity for our students to gain an education on different religions and expand their knowledge. This reduces racial stigmas and stereotypes that occur in school and will prompt religious equity. Our district will certainly be a more welcoming place."
Azeez added that since launching a change.org petition, she has collected close to 500 signatures in support of adding the holiday to the school calendar.
Six other students and residents also spoke during the July 21 special meeting in support of the calendar addition.
After listening to the students and to the residents, the board said it would support the addition of Eid to the school calendar as a holiday and a day off from school beginning in 2023-24.
"If you're going to represent one religion you need to represent them all. That's just the way it works in this country," said board member Mike Thorwart.
Dr. Sanko, who joined Thorwart in meeting personally with Azeez to discuss the holiday and her concerns, said there just wasn't enough time to make it happen for the coming school year.
"We already have our calendar approved and our professional calendar approved. And then there are calendars that the public doesn't see with e-school and our internal systems," he explained.
However, Sanko said he will be asking the district's teachers to be mindful of the holiday and not to schedule tests that day or to send work home the night before the holiday to free the district's Muslim students to celebrate the holiday with their families.
Board member Kristin Marcell thanked the students for their emails and comments and Dr. Sanko and Dr. Thorwart for personally taking the time to meet with Azeez.
"We continually grow as a community and holidays and events are going to pop up that we had never planned on in the school calendar and I applaud these students for coming forward," added board president Ed Solomon. "Students are coming here from all over. We should be welcoming."
Beginning in 2023-24, Eid al-Fitr will join an already diverse school calendar that includes Diwali, the Hindu holiday of lights; and the Jewish high holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.
Source: patch.com
