Schools and religious festivals, autonomy wins

The start is set for next year September 12th, on Thursday; the end of the activities, however, is scheduled for June 7, 2025: these are the “key” dates of the next school year, made official in the last few hours by the Campania Region with the publication of the council resolution which establishes the calendar of school lessons. And, above all, it sets a whole series of “boundaries” different from the past which could change the course of the school year for students of all levels.

First of all, the biggest news concerns the faculty given to the directors of the institutes of the entire territory from Sessa Aurunca to Sapri to stop lessons on the holidays of other religions. An opening, therefore, in particular to the large Islamic community which, in this way, will be able to better celebrate some important dates in their calendar, such as that of the end of Ramadan. «For needs related to the specificity of the school institution, with the clarification that, in the presence of a significant student component belonging to different ethnic and/or religious communities, as part of the planning of the celebrations it is possible to use one of the days dedicated to school events for the celebration of important anniversaries of those ethnic groups and/or religions, following specific consultation with the representatives of the various components of the school (teachers, students, parents), and communicating it to the competent offices of the Region and the Regional School Office», the passage of the Council resolution which, therefore, formalizes this faculty already announced by Palazzo Santa Lucia.

And which, in the last few hours, has also found applause from the archbishop of the Diocese of Salerno-Acerno-Campagna, Monsignor Andrea Bellandi: «I believe that there should be no ideological battles on these topics of a political nature. We must look at the good and real interests of students and teachers and, in this sense, we must evaluate school by school, based on the number of pupils belonging to other religions, in order to respect dates that are significant for them».