(MOREPIC1) Face2News/Nevada
Welcoming 29 New Jersey school districts declaring Diwali holiday during 2025-26 school year, Hindus are urging all public school districts and private-charter-independent schools in New Jersey to close on their most popular festival Diwali.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that holiday on Diwali in New Jersey schools would be a step in the positive direction in view of the presence of a substantial number of Hindu students at schools around the state, as it was important to meet the religious and spiritual needs of Hindu pupils.
School districts in New Jersey which have declared Diwali holiday for students include: Bernards, Bridgewater-Raritan, Cherry Hill, Clifton, East Brunswick, Edison, Fair Lawn, Glen Ridge, Glen Rock, Hillsborough, Holmdel, Hopewell Valley, Jersey City, Livingston, Marlboro, Millburn, Montclair, Montgomery, North Brunswick, Paramus, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Piscataway, Ridgewood, Robbinsville, Sayreville, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, South Brunswick, Watchung Borough, West Windsor-Plainsboro. Besides these, Colts Neck and Englewood Cliffs have short sessions for Diwali.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged New Jersey to officially recognize Diwali as a state holiday like Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
New Jersey Department of Education has also listed 21 Hindu religious holidays permitting pupil absence from school for 2025-26, which include: Chandramana Yugadi, Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Goverdhan Puja, Govinda Dwadashi, Guru Purnima, Hanuman Jayanti, Holi, Holika Dahan, Krishna Janmashtami, Maha Shivaratri, Makar Sankranti, Meena Sankranthi, Naga Panchami, Navaratri, Onam, Pongal, Raksha Bandhan, Ramnavami, Souramana Yugadi, Vasant Panchami.
(SUBHEAD)Rajan Zed indicated that since it was important for Hindu families to celebrate Diwali day together at home with their children; closing schools on Diwali would ensure that and would also display how respectful and accommodating New Jersey schools were to their faith.
If schools had declared other religious holidays, why not Diwali, Zed asked. Holidays of all major religions should be honored and no one should be penalized for practicing their religion, Zed added.
Rajan Zed suggested that all New Jersey schools, public-private-charter-independent, to seriously look into declaring Diwali as an official holiday, thus recognizing the intersection of spirituality and education. Zed noted that awareness about other religions thus created by such holidays like Diwali would make New Jersey students well-nurtured, well-balanced, and enlightened citizens of tomorrow.
Zed urged New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, New Jersey Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer and New Jersey State Board of Education President Kathy Goldenberg to work towards adding Diwali as an official holiday in all the state’s public schools, and persuading the private-charter-independent schools to follow.
Rajan Zed thanked New Jersey’s 29 school districts for understanding the concerns of Hindu community by closing schools on Diwali.
Zed further says that Hinduism is rich in festivals and religious festivals are very dear and sacred to Hindus. Diwali, the festival of lights, aims at dispelling the darkness and lighting up the lives and symbolizes the victory of good over evil. Diwali falls on October 20 this year.
