A Bronx charter school principal is pushing for the state’s Education Department to revamp its 2024 testing schedule — which currently conflicts with Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic celebration that marks the end of Ramadan — to better accommodate New York’s observing Muslim students and teachers.
In a letter sent to New York State Education Department (NYSED) Chancellor Lester Young Jr., on Monday, Zeta South Bronx Elementary School principal Amenata Magiraga is calling on the state to reschedule the English Language Arts assessment, which currently falls on April 10-12, 2024 – coinciding with Eid, one of the holiest days of the Islamic year.
Charter schools align to the same New York state standards, and take the same state exams, as public schools.
Magiraga said that NYSED has dismissed “multiple attempts” to revise its 2024 academic calendar to better accommodate Muslim students, who traditionally do not attend school on Eid. NYSED’s alternative is to offer Eid-observing students make-up assessments the following Monday on April 15, 2024, but Magiraga, who is Muslim, says Mondays are a “typically poor assessment” days for students after a weekend.
Nearly 800,000 Muslims live in New York City, which is home to 22% of the American Muslim population, according to a report by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a research organization focused on Muslim Americans.
However, visibility and consideration for the city’s practicing Muslims in educational and professional spaces, has often been inconsistent, Magiraga told the Bronx Times. She added that the prayer rooms that she wishes she had as a student, are provided at the Zeta South Bronx Elementary School on Westchester Avenue she now oversees.
“I was once a Muslim student who was once overlooked, and I’m not just advocating for our Muslim students, but all students who shouldn’t feel like they have to choose between their education and their religion,” she told the Bronx…
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