Should Non-Christian Religious Holidays Be Allowed To Disrupt The Running Of Our Schools?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/709722/Eid-school-close-notice-Muslim-staff-Chobham-Academy-London

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/607622/Muslim-school-girl-Eid-day-off-refuse?_ga=1.208799122.1023994972.1470396484

[anotheoldgit]

Murdo

/// Absolutely not.

For that matter, neither should Christian
holidays. ///

What no Easter or Christmas holidays for our kids, that's a bit harsh?

[Old_Geezer]

If pupils want non-standard (in this country) days off then their parents should apply to the head teacher for permission.

Staff should book off personal holiday, first come first served.

[Old_Geezer]

"leaders announced it would fall on September 12 to avoid controversy"

Well they well and truly mucked that up.

I reckon that the lunar cycle simply decided to be unpredictable this year. After all, if they chose a different random date then that wouldn't be observing the religious rules would it.

[andy-hughes]

The issue appears to be that staff are not held to a proper system of leave request and permission.

The school should have a maximum number of staff who can be off on any one day, and notice should be required within a reasonable time.

That way, the school will know when staff are off, and when the maximum number of absences for a set day is reached, then all future requests are denied.

I have to adapt to that system, and I work in an office so it should be easy enough to put in place for a school - indeed it should be mandated nationally to avoid this kind of contentious issue.

[ToraToraTora]

no religious clap trap should be allowed to disrupt the running of schools. I don't care what flavour of fairy tales it is, schools are a place for education not mumbo jumbo.

[woofgang]

I am amazed that its not.....or maybe it is supposed to be but the school is poorly managed. Where my sister works there are muslim members of staff as well as sikhs, Jews and various other religions and ethnologies. they find it quite useful as there are always people willing to work Christmas, Easter and so on because those aren’t the holidays tat they celebrate. I agree with Murdo about school terms and holidays BTW, they should not be linked to any religious dates.

[Old_Geezer]

There inevitably will be. Schools link to public holidays which in turn link to the religion of the country.

[MallyJ]

Should Chistian celebrations be allowed to disrupt our schools given that very few people actually worship as christians? Of course not..but they do...

[Peter Pedant]

// no religious clap trap should be allowed to disrupt the running of schools//

righto ! 3T - the only thing is there is something called the Butler Education Act ( 1944) which guarantees denominational education

that is why you have skoolz like the The Honey Chile RC primary school

sorry Holy Child ....

[New Judge]

"The school should have a maximum number of staff who can be off on any one day, and notice should be required within a reasonable time. "

No it should not.

Schools are closed for around 14 weeks each year. Staff (like the pupils) should do whatever it is they need to do during those periods of closure.

[mikey4444]

AOG....I was brought up a Catholic and we had days off school for various Saints days, while the Protestants schools didn't.

[woofgang]

NJ, the schools may be closed but that doesn’t mean that the teachers are not working.

[youngmafbog]

Of course they are.

[-Talbot-]

The oxymoron that is 'religious education' should be abolished in schools.

[mikey4444]

Interesting extract from the Wiki entry on Faith Schools ::::

The Education Act 1944 introduced the requirement for daily prayers in all state-funded schools, but later acts changed this requirement to a daily "collective act of worship", the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 being the most recent. This also requires such acts of worship to be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character". The term "mainly" means that acts related to other faiths can be carried out providing the majority are Christian.

[youngmafbog]

There should be NO worship in state schools.

All fairy tales should be removed from the curriculum. It just causes too much trouble.

[anotheoldgit]

There are so many atheist around these days, I wonder how many amongst those married atheists, chose a church marriage?