Should exams be rescheduled so Muslims can fast for Ramadan?

Religious freedom must be considered in the light of children's well-being

 

Will this year’s GCSE and A-Level examinations be rescheduled to accommodate fasting Muslim students during Ramadan?

As the Islamic calendar is a lunar one, Ramadan shifts slightly each year, meaning Muslims will be fasting from June to July this year. Pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will sit GCSEs and A-levels between May 16 and June 29 this year.

The Joint Council for Qualifications, which represents exam boards, said it had held discussions with Muslim leaders about the timetabling of exams this summer, but a report in the Guardian late on Thursday suggested that there had been some misunderstandings.

The council said the timing of Ramadan had been considered in the same way as other events – such as the Queen’s diamond jubilee in June 2012 – and that the timetable was not open to change. I expect more details will emerge in due course.

What has interested me, however, is the response of some people who believe this is a good way of accommodating fasting students.

The potential rescheduling of exams is not as important to me as the fact that we are not talking about mature adults who can make an informed choice, but children upon whom there is no obligation to fast, as well as encouraging them at a very young age to fast as soon as possible.

That these are young children depriving themselves of food and water seems to go largely unsaid. If non-Muslim children were to deprive themselves of food and drink for nearly 20 hours each day for a month, I suspect the response would be different.

Last year, there was uproar when a headteacher of the Lion Academy Trust – which runs four schools in London –  advised parents to tell their children not to fast as it could be harmful. Instead of support, the decision was criticised by certain Muslim groups, saying it was not the school’s place to interfere.

Brushing aside the ironic fact that some of these groups try to interfere in the lives of Muslims, when did it come to this? Instead of praising children and parents for showing so much devotion to their religion, better time and energy would be spent on schools and these ‘faith leaders’ – assuming they influence the people they claim to represent – on telling parents and the wider communities to encourage their children not to fast.

If headteachers are truly concerned over the ‘negative effects’ that a clash between Ramadan and exams could have, then they should follow the example of the aforementioned headteacher.

Coming from a Muslim background, I appreciate that sense of unity one feels during Ramadan, knowing your fellow Muslims are all fasting and feeling hungry and tired, and perhaps you will all share a meal together at sunset.

But this should not come at the expense of a child’s health and well-being. If they really wish to fast then they should make up for it when they do not have exams or when they are off school.

Schools should not be making too many concessions in the name of religion – who knows where this will lead to and what the next issue will be.

Iram Ramzan is a freelance journalist. Follow her on Twitter

47 Responses to “Should exams be rescheduled so Muslims can fast for Ramadan?”

  1. Aslam

    GCSE’s and A Levels are taken by 16 – 18 year olds (i.e. post-puberty individuals who are capable of getting married and joining the armed forces). The issue surrounding Lion Academy Trust, a primary school (i.e. pre-puberty children), has nothing whatsoever to do with the issue of exams and fasting. I would agree with the headteacher of Lion Academy Trust re primary school children fasting. I do not see the link between the primary school and the current news re exams. If young adults want to fast that is entirely their choice. The real question is whether exam boards should accommodate Ramadhan in the same way other events are accommodated. There are arguments both for and against (I, myself, am undecided on my views on this). This article does not discuss that issue at all.

    It seems the author of this article has decided to use this occasion to go on an entirely unrelated rant about fasting.

  2. Brien

    When part of the community ignores the facts on the ground and use your sort of excuses to NOT admit the problem, or don’t agree as you wish to put it, then your ignorance, or apathy puts ‘our’ community in peril. You don’t have that ‘right’!

  3. Mike Stallard

    As a Catholic I entirely agree!
    We should also be allowed, of course, to educate our young in our faith, just as you will be wishing to educate your young in your own faith too. We also, because of our faith, do a lot of “outreach” into the community specialising and concentrating on the less well off. Then, of course, we deserve – and get – state funding.

  4. Comrade Darling

    I have every right to decide what I believe imperils my community, just as you have.

    It is not ignorance or apathy to decide that an individual who proposes something such as moving exams for religious reasons poses a threat or if I agree with them or not. What I know is the whole group cannot be blamed for the actions of one of the group.

    Personally I am not worried by the proposal at all, or that it is being given consideration because, unlike you, I don’t feel threatened by multi culturalism and this requires consideration being given to all cultures in our society. Consideration in this instance will mean government, exam boards and heads will give their views and a decision will be made. But, I maintain, if an individual wishes to propose a policy consideration to maintain a religious tradition then let them, they have every right and those with the power have every right to grant or deny.

  5. JackieHolt

    In general, the principle should be that if the majority group isn’t penalised by doing so then there is no reason not to cater for the minority. However, then I read this –

    “…children upon whom there is no obligation to fast”

    – which seems to me the salient point. If there is no obligation for children to fast then they shouldn’t do so at any time, regardless of the exam timetable, because it’s detrimental to their education.

    We shouldn’t cater to these parents, it’s akin to those forcing their daughters to wear the veil well before the age it is normally demanded by the religion / culture. These people are playing a game of rights one-upmanship, moving the stake posts further with each concession. It is far better to ask the Muslim community to inform parents that their children shouldn’t be made to fast.

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