By Zoha Ali — Correspondent
In Sharon High school the number of people celebrating Ramadan is increasing but the awareness is scarce.
Ramadan is an Islamic holiday that Muslims are devoted to. Fasting during this holy month is one of the five pillars of Islam and those pillars define the faith, belief and practices of a Muslim.
A teacher from SHS, says that there are some aspects of Islam that are misinterpreted and we should address those issues by education. “Islam is a misunderstood religion here in the United States and only education removes ignorance and fear,” they said.
Freshman Mika Singh says that there should be more appreciation for Muslims in the school because it can get frustrating seeing them get probed by people who aren’t aware of the holiday. “It’s annoying to see Muslims keep getting bothered by people that don’t know they are fasting,” she said.
Katelyn Decknick, a special education teacher in Sharon High School, says that there should be more recognition of Ramadan by using school resources and social media platforms. “Utilizing school publications (Twitter, Talon, hallway TVs, etc) to share details about the holiday, would help to spread awareness,” she says.
Freshman Lillia Precourt says that we should spread more awareness by having someone speak at our school to inform students and staff about this upcoming holiday. “We should have a guest speaker come in and talk about Ramadan and we should cast a vote in ways we can learn to make our school more friendly to people who do celebrate, ” she said.
A teacher at SHS says that the school should spread acknowledgement about Islam and the holidays that it comes with by using social media. They also say that we should talk to Muslims to clarify all the misconceptions about the religion. “We should use the platform of social media to interview Muslims and have them answer basic questions to demystify Ramadan,” they said.
Singh says to have at least one day off in the school calendar to acknowledge the importance of the holiday. “We should make the first day a school holiday because it’s weird that it goes on for a whole month but Muslims don’t have a single day off,” she said.
A teacher at SHS says that it is unfair that we celebrate Christian and Jewish holidays but we fail to acknowledge Islam even though these three major religions have so much in common. “The main issues that stand out for me are that these prophets taught unity and love, they said.
Precourt says that all major religions that are practiced in the world have very similar faiths. “All three religions have the same prophets and they have very similar traditions and beliefs,” she said.
An anonymous teacher says that all the prophets in the main religions are taught to give back to the community and to give service to the needy. “They spoke of service to the community and to the needy,” they said.