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OHIO, USA — In December, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a new law allowing students to take school days off for religious holidays.
The law will go into effect next school year.
The law will require all K-12 schools in Ohio to give school off for students for 3 religious holidays per year.
One of the co-sponsors of the bill, State Senator Niraj Antani, says Hindu students will now be able to take off school for the Hindu festival of Diwali in the fall as well as 2 other holidays.
Diwali is Hindu festival that is celebrated all across India, according to Dr. Lakshmanrao Bhandaru, a retired endocrinologist and practicing Hindu who spoke with WTOL 11 at the Hindu Temple of Toledo on Sunday about what the new law means for students.
The festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil in people.
“When we talk about good over evil, they are not outside,” said Dr. Bhandaru. “All these festivals remind us to work hard to remove the demonic qualities – anger, too much desire – All these 6 qualities we have to get rid of and then practice the good qualities.”
Ohio State student Pranav Dixit says the law will allow students an opportunity to fully celebrate the festival without school obligations getting in the way.
“In high school, we grew up without the law and so we had to set aside time to celebrate with our family and then come to the temple to celebrate with the whole community as a whole and so we had to sort of set aside time away from our homework,” said Daxit.
According to State Senator Antani, Ohio will be the first state in the country that requires schools to give Hindu students a day off for Diwali.
The law will require parents or guardians to inform the school of the religious holiday the student will be taking off within 14 days of the first day of the school year.
In addition, schools will be required to not penalize students academically for taking the religious holiday off from school and provide reasonable alternatives for any exams missed.
You can read the full text of the new law here.
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