More Muslim students getting support during Ramadan
WHILE MUSLIM students remain a rarity in many US school districts, they are a major presence in some communities, prompting public schools to be more attentive to their needs during the holy month of Ramadan, when dawn-to-sundown fasting is a duty of Islam.
For example, in Dearborn, Michigan – where nearly half the 110,000 residents are of Arab descent – public schoolteachers and staff strive to make things easier for students observing Ramadan.
“We allow students on their own to practise their faith, as long as it’s not a disruption to the school day,” said Dearborn Schools spokesperson David Mustonen. “We also try to find other spaces or activities in the school during lunch for those students who may be fasting.”
But he stressed that these students are still required to complete all assignments.
In St Paul, Minnesota, East African Elementary Magnet School has set aside space in the library where students who are fasting and don’t want to be in the cafeteria can spend the break doing other supervised activities like reading, said principal Abdisalam Adam.
The 220-student school opened last fall as part of St Paul’s public schools system, and shares that curriculum, but it also aims to reinforce cultural and linguistic connections with Somalia and other East African countries. Adam said about 90 per cent of the students are Somali Muslims.
Adam, who has worked with the district for nearly 30 years, said he tells his staff that accommodating observance of Ramadan fits in with an overall goal of caring for students.
“All needs are connected,” he said.
For school districts less familiar with Muslim traditions, resources are available. For example, Islamic Networks Group, a Californiabased non-profit, provides, among other things, online information for educators about Ramadan and its significance to Muslims.
Many districts “don’t know very much about Islam or any of our holidays”, said Maha Elgenaidi, the group’s executive director. “If they don’t know very much about it, there’s not much they can provide to students in terms of accommodation” until they learn more, and the parents are actively involved in asking for accommodations.
STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES
She says fasting students may need to be excused from strenuous activities i n gym class, and should be allowed to make up for tests missed due to absence to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday that follows Ramadan.
“If they’re not accommodated at school or the school doesn’t know anything about this, they’re kind of living dual lives there.”
Fasting i s not required of young children, but many Muslim children like to fast to share in the month’s rituals and emulate parents and older siblings, according to ING. Educators also need to know of the typical changes to Muslim families’ routines during Ramadan, such as waking up for the predawn
suhoor (pre-fasting meal eaten right before sunrise) and staying up late to possibly attend prayers in the mosque, Elgenaidi said.
When Dr Aifra Ahmed’s children were younger, the Pakistani American physician and her husband would share insight about Ramadan with their classmates, reading to them a Ramadan story and distributing goodie bags with such things as dates.
“I realised that the Muslim families in school have to do a lot of education,” said Ahmed, who lives in Los Altos, California.
Ahmed’s husband, Moazzam Chaudry, said goodwill gestures, such as when educators offer a Ramadan greeting, send a message of inclusivity.
For immigrant families, “that’s the first thing that ... naturally comes to your mind, ‘Are we integrated into this society? Does this society even accept us?’” he said. “These little, little things make such a huge impact.”
Punhal, the couple’s daughter who attends a charter middle school, said she takes part in physical education during Ramadan, but skips running when fasting because she would need water afterwards.
She said a few non-Muslim friends told her they would like to fast with her in companionship.
Naiel, her brother who’s in a public high school, said he was pleased when a teacher talked to the class about Ramadan and told him that, if he needed, he could take a nap.
He wants others to better understand why he fasts.
“A lot of kids and teachers think ... I’m torturing myself or like it’s a diet,” he said. “When I’m fasting, I just feel a lot more gratitude towards everyone around me and towards people who don’t have as much.”