Edmonton Public School trustees to vote on more inclusive stat holidays
' I just see this as a great, wonderful opportunity to bring everyone together'
When families are gathered together eating Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner, most kids aren't thinking about homework due at school the next day.
But that wasn't the case for Timiro Mohamed's family when they celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr or Eid-ul-Adha.
"You can't celebrate in the same way around the dinner table, talking and laughing and experiencing a holiday that matters so much to you," said Mohamed, the youth initiatives manager at Islamic Family Services.
"You're thinking about an assignment that's due tomorrow or somebody is missing."
An announcement two years ago that the Edmonton Public School Board was looking at cutting five school days due to budget cuts sparked an idea.
"It's kind of a cool opportunity if they're already dropping five days from the school year to use this as a time for collective action in the community," Mohamed said.
Since 2020, a group of more than 30 students, leaders, parents and teachers has been working with the Edmonton Public School board to build a school calendar that includes days off for significant religious holidays.
After consulting with several communities in Edmonton, the group settled on Bandi Chhor Divas, Diwali, Eid-ul-Adha, Eid-ul-Fitr, Indigenous Peoples Day, Lunar New Year, Winter Solstice & Yom Kippur
Adding the holidays to the school calendar would only require shifting four school days.
'It's just part of my identity'
"I always wished that I could have that time with family because it's just part of my identity. It's part of how I grew up, and it's how we gather and celebrate," Mohamed said. "The same way that I was always used to having time off on Christmas."
Grace Martin School in Mill Woods observes Eid as a statutory holiday, as do school boards in New York, New Jersey and Austin.
Individual schools within EPSB already adapt calendars to fit larger absences on holidays.
Mohammed Hussain, father of three, pulls his kids out of school for Eid-ul-Adha and Eid-ul-Fitr.
They're not alone, he said, as usually about 10 children are away on those days.
"Sometimes there are double-digit absences on each day," Hussain said."So the teachers and the principals, they actually work with the community and they decide to cover less material on those specific days."
Hussain thinks making the change would be more reflective of the student body and society as a whole.
"What we've seen over the last few years is there's been so many efforts to divide the populations and demographic and people and so on," Hussain said. "And I just see this as a great, wonderful opportunity to bring everyone together."
Mohamed has already met with the Edmonton Public School Board three times and will present again on Tuesday. Trustees will vote on the proposal Tuesday afternoon.
"The perfect scenario is that after our conversation, the holidays that we've been advocating for are recognized not only as part of an interfaith calendar but that they're actually built in as statutory holidays as part of EPSB, and for generations to come and for years to come students have that day off."
Author of the article: Lauren Boothby
Publishing date: Nov 29, 2021
Youth advocates are asking the Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) to give students the day off for significant religious and cultural holidays when the board votes on the 2022-23 academic calendar on Tuesday .
With five teaching days already removed from the 2020-21 school year to save money, advocates say this is the perfect opportunity to recognize the student body’s diversity by assigning them to significant holidays. This can all be done without changing the number of hours in the classroom or altering the budget, says Omar Yaqub, executive director of Islamic Family and Social Services (IFSS).
Allowing kids to take the day off for significant holidays would send the message to students of different faiths that they’re a valuable part of the community, Yaqub says.
“If you celebrate Christmas, your holiday is a default. If you celebrate these other days, you’re not recognized,” he says. “(Approving this) tells the students, tells the students’ parents, that they’re important, that their values, their culture, their identity, matters.”
Spreading the new non-instructional days out also takes pressure off families relying on school meal programs, according to Yaqub.
IFSS’s youth program the Green Room, and Sangat Youth, first brought the idea to the board last December and the group has been speaking with different communities since then to determine which days off make sense.
They identified eight holidays that, for the next two academic years, only require four days away from class because some, like the Lunar New Year, fall on weekends or outside the school year.
Four holidays proposed for the 2022-23 school year are: Yom Kippur, Bandi Chhor Divas and Diwali, Winter Solstice, and National Indigenous Peoples Day and Summer Solstice. For the following year, Yom Kippur, Eid-al Fitr, Eid-al-Adha, National Indigenous Peoples Day or Summer Solstice, are requested.
Daman Kaur Grewal, co-president of Sangat Youth, says some teachers already treat these holidays as non-instructional days because many students are absent.
“The way that our systems are set up should be reflective of our community and the diverse makeup,” she says. “We’re not asking for any other holidays to be taken away, it’s just to include other ones.”
As a Sikh who attended public school, Grewal says she missed many events significant to her faith as a child, and that can leave kids feeling detached from their cultures as they navigate dual identities.
“Students are having to pick between their education and their community and their faith,” she says. “It definitely impacts your self-esteem and the way you identify.”
Superintendent Darrel Robertson, in a memo part of Tuesday’s agenda , says there are operational challenges with approving the days off and the calendar can only accommodate one. He also noted the Education Act allows children to be excused for religious holidays
The division has also created a multi-faith calendar and is asking staff avoid scheduling some activities on those days, and to reference it when planning exams and project deadlines.
“The goal is that families who observe the religious holiday can do so without concern of missing important school assessments or activities,” said Robertson.
Of families polled about the 2020 changes , 56.2 per cent said they preferred the new days off be chunked together. About 85 per cent who chose this option did so citing desire to go on a family vacation or other activities.
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