Muslim students request access to a classroom where they can pray.

The principal of the Marco Polo Technical Institute for Tourism in Florence grants room for prayers during Ramadan..

Two 16- and 17-year-old Muslim students of Moroccan origin ask the principal of Marco Polo Technical Institute for Tourism in Florence, Ludovico Arte, to be able to have a classroom where they can fulfill prayers during the month of Ramadan.

The principal, who is a very sensitive and attentive person to these very frequent dynamics in Italian schools due to the strong presence of Italian Muslim citizens, granted the room.

 «Two days ago – writes the principal – two Moroccan students came to my office. They informed me that Ramadan would begin on March 23rd, it would last a month and that it included five daily prayers. They asked me for the possibility of having morning prayers at school». 

«I was not prepared to answer and asked for some time to reflect. I met with my vice principals and we saw to it that in a laic public school it is not acceptable for religion to take precedence over teaching. But we didn't want to say no to a need that the girls felt was important and which they had placed with great grace. So we found a mediation. We will allow them and other students of the Muslim faith to pray in a space of the school during break time, so as to accept the request without taking time away from teaching. When we communicated the decision to the students, they were very happy».

Hence, the school communicated on its website that, «following a request from some students, the school allows the due prayers of the Ramadan rituals to be carried out during school hours; starting from Monday 27th March until the end of Ramadan, performed during the second interval, from 11.35 to 11.45. The students of the Muslim faith may resort to the Angela Fiume room in the via san Bartolo a Cintoia office and to the Liberamente room in the office of via De Nicola».

«There may legitimately be different positions on this issue and I don't know if we made the right choice. But, as we understand it, public school is everyone's school. This means that the school must guarantee pluralism and accommodate, as far as possible, the different material and spiritual needs of each student and each teacher».

Editorial