Minnesota school districts to oberve Muslim Eid holidays for the first time this year

Even with its growing Muslim community, Minnesota's district schools have until now not officially observed Muslim holidays. That will change starting next school year, when several school districts will recognise Eid El-Fitr and Eid El-Adha as official school holidays. 

"Muslims are no longer a tiny minority. In some districts, they represent a large percentage of Muslims," Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council of American-Muslim Relations-Minnesota, told The New Arab.

"Many are traditional Muslims, so taking part in Eid holidays is important for them."

The school districts that will observe the holidays are Minneapolis, Hopkins, Moorhead and Mankato. In addition to these districts having high Muslim -- mainly Somali -- populations, some of the leaders of the schoolboards are also Muslim, which Hussein said has helped the process. 

With this new policy across several school districts, Minnesota joins a growing number of states that are increasingly recognising Muslim holidays. 

"We expect more of this to happen," said Hussein, "Now that we have momentum, we will target more districts."

Though counties across the US with high Muslim populations have been making their cases for the inclusion of Muslim holidays in schools, the decisions are not always based on numbers.

For example, Fairfax County in Virginia has a high Muslim population, and so far has not managed to get Muslim holidays off, despite major efforts.

Meanwhile, they are observed at schools in Vermont, one of the whitest states in the country.