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.
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47 Responses to “Should exams be rescheduled so Muslims can fast for Ramadan?”
Brien
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35277249
Comrade Darling
Whatever mate. Fact is that in any civil war you and I are already opposite sides of the barricades, I’m out there with the lefties, where are you going to be?
Brien
With the liberals trying to save freedom and liberty, and the last remnants of our human rights, including women’s rights.
I know of other disappointed commies like you!
JackieHolt
Society is an organic whole with a diverse set of beliefs. We can all agree that murder is bad, so there is a law against murder. We don’t all agree that divorce is wrong, so there is no law against divorce. No-one has fielded a convincing argument for gay marriage being detrimental to the whole, so gay marriage is now permitted.
In such a society you still have the option of believing that divorce is wrong and living your life accordingly (and ditto with gay marriage). What you don’t have the right to do, is force others to live by your code.
In secular societies, laws are based on reason: those with the strongest arguments win. If the argument against gay marriage is seen as much weaker than the argument for it, then gay marriage ought to be legal; we had that debate and gay marriage’s proponents won decisively. Ditto with divorce, ditto with abortion. You can’t just foist your beliefs on the rest of us, you need to convince us by with ration arguments (and that doesn’t mean pointing to a bit in the holy book).
Mike Stallard
Jackie you are making a lot of assumptions which I do not share.
I see the bedrock of society as the monogamous family. I cite several thousand years of our history in support of this. I also see what you call “the Holy Book” in total agreement. I believe in the Holy Book and in the Church too.
I am not forcing this on anyone. I do have the right to believe it though, just as you have the right to believe whatever you want to as well.
Consider though that I may be right. Consider that perhaps gay marriage is not real marriage at all and that sodomy is actually a sin as well as being a severe health hazard. Consider that divorce is attacking the very bedrock of our society and that it is the children who really come to bits when it happens. I may be right. Just as you may be wrong.
If you look in the “Holy Book” you will of course see that Jesus himself joined children and divorce together.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says that a society which abandons its religion will soon cease to exist. I just point to the very low birth rates…
I am in the minority. But so what? I have to live with it and shut up.