Festival of Lights celebrated in darkness

Diwali, the festival of lights, is celebrated in countries all over South and Southeast Asia. It is an essential holiday for Hindus around the world, yet celebrations are delayed.

Diwali, a religious festival originally from India, was celebrated on October 24th, 2022. According to the Hindu calendar, the holiday celebrates the start of the new year. The festival is performed by families getting together to pray and wish each other good luck, good health, and good wealth. 

Renaissances College, an international school known to promote and spread diversity, fails to celebrate certain religious holidays. It is home to hundreds of international students, with students believing in various religions. Religious holidays like Eid, Diwali, and Hanukkah are not celebrated in this school, while only Christmas and Easter are. Non-Christian students often feel out of place and unrecognised.

International schools are meant to appreciate and celebrate the diversity of students' cultures and religions. Religious festivals like Diwali, Hanukkah, and Eid are essential to their believers and are equally as important as Christmas. International schools, in particular, should put more effort into making these students feel included.

Year 11 Jain student Anushka Binakiya agrees that religious holidays should be celebrated at school; "Our school should support and celebrate religious holidays... at least the significant ones." She adds, "Especially with [Renaissance College] having so many [Indian] students, it is important to celebrate our cultures."

Acknowledging the fact that there are so many religions, Mahnoor Siddiqi, a Year 11 Muslim student, comments, "Although I would prefer to celebrate festivals like Eid with my own community, it would mean a lot if [our] school could teach other students about the other religions as well. Especially since many have a strong opinion that Muslims are terrorists and South Asians are poor and dirty."

Religious discrimination is unfortunately a rising issue that has not stopped increasing since the miserable incident of 9/11. Schools have the responsibility to protect and include students of all identities and make sure they are comfortable with the community around them. 

"[Negative opinions on South Asians] have heavily impacted my identity because it is the only thing people see when they look at us" Mahnoor adds.

Zanzi Falahati, a Year 10 Farsi student, noted, "[Not celebrating my cultural festivals] makes me feel like my religion is not as important as the others."

To make things worse, teachers and staff don’t respect the actions of religious practice. While a student was fasting, their physical education teacher made them continue with the exercise. "My teacher made me do the beep test regardless of my fasting, and by the end, I had dizziness, a headache, a stomach ache, and other symptoms."

While the school did have an optional dress-up day for Diwali, there were no other learning opportunities. Schools should provide learning sessions for students to learn about the different gods in their religions and how festivals are celebrated. Suggestions from students around the school are to make and sell food for students to try different flavours. Games, music, and clothing are also essential, especially for younger students.

In terms of respecting the religious practices of others, teachers should be able to make arrangements and allow students to believe in their faith. Fasting festivals like Ramadan and Das Lakshana are essential to their followers, and students should be able to fast without the fear of being judged.

Schools should ensure that students of non-Christian religions are taken care of seriously and are comfortable in the environment they are in.