From the news desk

Parent fights for students return after Jumuah

Share this article

A concerned parent has requested that her son return to school after Friday jumuah prayer.

The young grade 11 pupil’s mother expressed her concern about the school not wanting any of the young Muslim boys to return after Friday prayer time as it would could a disturbance for the other children.

Hamida Akleker said that she has spoke to the school to ask if the young boys are able to return to school or if the situation could be assessed so as to allow for a place for the boys to pray on a Friday.

She explains her reason for her request is so that the boys, in particular her grade 11 son, has important subjects during this time that he is not allowed back at the school.

In an email Akleker lists the details of her request:

the only solution to this query is to shift the following subjects, that is, Mathematics, Physic and Accounting to another time slot on the Friday, so that it does not clash with Friday Jumuah prayer times.

As a result of the current situation, a grade 11 Muslim student will miss three quarter of their Mathematics class every second week. What about the other grades.

Please remember that there are more than three classes per grade.

The time of the period affected at prayer time, is as follows: Mathematics (in this instant) period starts at 12:10pm and ends at 13:10pm, Muslim learners are dismissed at 12:30pm meaning they misses out 40minutes of the Mathematics class.

Lunch break is from 13:10pm until 13:30pm. The next class starts at 13:30pm and ends at 14:30pm (school also ends) the Muslim learner misses this period completely which is an hour long.

Fairburn College has replied via the Western Cape Education department and in an email, they state that they informed the parent in writing that they cannot grant a request for the learner to return to school after Friday prayers as this will cause a disruption.

A large number of learners would be required to sign back in and, since learners attend different mosques for Friday prayers, they will not be able to return at the same time.

The Governing Body also investigated the option of providing a venue on the school premises for prayers. However, a suitable venue was not available. VOC (Imogen Vollenhoven)


Share this article

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

WhatsApp WhatsApp us
Wait a sec, saving restore vars.