CAIRO – The British authorities’ announcement of implementing a new measure to benefit Muslim students, who will be fasting Ramadan during summer school exams, has been drawing mixed reactions, with some politicians calling it a “pure belligerence”.
“I was dismayed to learn that exam timetables are to be moved to accommodate Ramadan,” Henry Reilly, a Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) councilor for Newry and Mourne, told Belfast Telegraph on Friday, January 8.
“Less and less time off is being given to Christians at Easter and Christmas. People who wish to observe Sunday as a special day for family and worship are being pressurized to come into work or simply have to pass up the opportunity for many jobs. In such circumstances, this news is particularly galling.
“The vast majority of pupils are not Muslim. It is pure belligerence to have the observance of Ramadan imposed upon them in this way.
“No one is suggesting that Muslims should not be allowed to practice their religion in the UK – even though practicing Christianity in a Muslim country is often impossible, at least in public.
“However, I do object to Ramadan being imposed on our schools in this fashion.”
Umbrella body the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which sets exam dates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, announced that summer exam scheduled in the United Kingdom will take Ramadan into account.
Since Islam’s holy month of Ramadan this year begins in early June and it coincides with summer examinations, UK schools have agreed to move test dates in order to release the stress produced by fasting while studying.
Rejecting the criticism, JCQ said the changes agreed more than a year ago meant exams for popular subjects such as English and maths would be held earlier.
“There has been a clear misunderstanding in some parts of the media as to how the GCSE and A-level timetable is set and the impact religious events such as Ramadan, Easter and Passover have on it. It is important to note that the timetable for 2016 was drafted over a year ago. It is published and won’t be changing,” A spokesperson for the group said.
“If a small change can be made for any one group that does not impact negatively on most students, it will, quite rightly, be considered – but these are made before the timetable is published.”
Hard
For Muslim students, going through exams while fasting was a huge challenge they had to face last year.
“I did my last A-level exam in Northern Ireland last year during Ramadan on June 18. I had to go 20 hours without eating or drinking with the long daylight hours for June,” Ihsan Baleed, a computer science student at Queen’s University, Belfast, who sat his A-levels last year at Wallace High School in Lisburn during Ramadan, said.
“It was really tough for me. I was doing mechanics, which was my last exam, I was really thirsty and that was hard. It’s not easy to concentrate doing the exam if you can’t focus properly.
“I didn’t ask for it to be changed as I thought that it wasn’t possible.
“It’s a global exam that everybody has to do, but at the same time they can’t make exceptions unless something major happens.
“To be honest I was a bit annoyed as I didn’t perform the best I thought I could.
“Doing exams is difficult enough without fasting.”