Hamilton school trustees urge Education Minister Stephen Lecce to make Eid a student holiday

Hamilton’s public faculty board is urging Education Minister Stephen Lecce to take into account supplying all students a vacation for at the very least just one day of Eid, the Muslim competition marking the stop of month-lengthy fasting during Ramadan.

Trustees agreed to generate a letter to the minister after listening to that Muslim learners are generally torn concerning their wish to be a part of loved ones and friends for the celebration and their require to continue to keep up with university do the job.

“I experience this is an vital phase in the appropriate way when wondering about what inclusion appears to be and feels like in our faculties, and that consists of colleges across the province,” board chair Dawn Danko explained at the Feb. 28 board conference.

“We need to have to acquire some concrete measures to make guaranteed that we are proactively on the lookout at how we may well assure that pupils in no way have to make a decision concerning celebrating a holy working day or a religious holiday and university.”

In shows to trustees, four govt users of Westdale Secondary School’s Muslim Scholar Association stated that although instructors make allowances for Eid, the onus is on learners to ask for an lodging.

They reported their desire would be to have two days off for Eid, which is celebrated on unique times each individual year for the reason that it is based on the lunar calendar, but possessing the second day as a holiday would be a very good start out.

“I believe yet another massive issue is the lack of a transition period,” Isra Bashir mentioned. “After owning a working day off to rejoice with household and good friends, and then it’s possible heading to bed a small afterwards that night or remaining definitely exhausted for the reason that of the activities that transpired all through the working day, you are expected to wake up at 6 a.m. in the early morning to go to faculty the upcoming working day,” she stated.

“Whereas if you look at (it) to the wintertime break or Xmas holidays, there is a good deal of time to get back again into the flow, to changeover from celebrating to back again into the regimen of each day lifestyle.”

The pupils prompt dedicating a experienced activity day, when pupils are off, to the first working day of Eid and earning the next working day a school vacation.

Associate director Sue Dunlop explained that despite the fact that trustees could move a experienced action working day to the initial day of Eid, carrying out so would impact Muslim instructors scheduled for compulsory education on that working day.

She stated the board also just cannot build a college student vacation on its individual simply because the university-12 months calendar is controlled by the Ministry of Education and other legislation on statutory holidays.

“I’ll say, sadly, Eid is not a single of those. It does skew to the Christian calendar as nicely as other holidays, and so in get for a improve to happen, it would be up to the Ministry of Schooling to make that transform.”