October 17, 2013
The city’s two mayoral candidates both support adding Eid celebrations to list of days schools are closed.
After a new mayor takes office in New York City next year, schoolchildren could very well have an additional two days off in observance of Muslim holidays. Both mayoral candidates, Democrat Bill de Blasio and Republican Joe Lhota, say they support the idea. If such a measure were to come to pass, the New York City school district would be the largest in the United States to grant the days off.
De Blasio said during a campaign rally with local Muslims on Wednesday that observing Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, a celebration during hajj, would help to recognize the city’s large Muslim population and wouldn’t take away from the education kids get.
“A child who has an exam on a day that right now is one of the Eid holidays, they’re either respecting their religious obligation or they’re doing what their education requires of them,” de Blasio said, according to the New York Daily News. “They can’t do both under our current system.”
About 13 percent of the city’s schoolchildren are Muslims, de Blasio added.
His Republican rival, former city transit chief Joe Lhota, also said that adding the holidays would be a good idea. Students would come to school on two other days to make up for the holidays, he said.
“We have a growing Muslim community in the city of New York and their religion needs to be respected as all other religions are respected,” Lhota said Wednesday, according to the Daily News.
Outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg opposes the idea. He has said that observing the holidays would take away from students’ education and open the door to similar requests from other religious and ethnic groups.
Al-Jazeera America: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/17/new-york-schoolscouldgetmuslimholidays.html
