Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing Muslim students to take additional time off school during Eid.

Schools must authorise a pupil’s absence if it is on a day exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the parent belongs.

The Department does not define which specific days schools should authorise for religious observance, though generally, it may be a day when the pupil’s parents would be expected by the religious body to which they belong to stay away from their workplace to mark the occasion. The Department advises schools to seek advice from the relevant religious body if they are in doubt.

Parents may apply to the school for a leave of absence that is linked to a religious day. Unlike days that the religious body have exclusively set apart for religious observance, such leave is authorised at the discretion of the school.

Schools and Local Authorities may consider taking further steps to manage the effect of such absence, including setting term dates around days for religious observance, working with local faith groups to develop guidance on absence for religious observance, taking INSET days that coincide with religious observance days, and providing individual support for pupils who miss sessions for this reason.