Featherstone primary school pupils

LONDON , October 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Equipped with a special room for prayer and its own coordinator for religious education, Featherstone primary school in Southall, an ethnically diverse district of west London , is set to mark the Muslims holy month of Ramadan - along with a number of other religious festivals.

During Ramadan, which will be observed as of Sunday or Monday, Muslim pupils will be allowed to go without food during daylight hours, and the school will make provision for them to pray.

"We have got some Muslim teachers who are quite willing to lead the prayer," religious coordinator Surinder Lall told Agence France -Presse (AFP) Saturday, October 25.

When it comes to fasting, teachers take care to liaise with parents.

"Most of them are sensible because they are not going to ask a six-year-old to fast," said Lall, adding that most Muslim pupils at the school begin the practice between the ages of eight and 11.

Fasting, like other obligatory acts of worship, becomes mandatory when the person reaches the age of puberty, but it is highly desirable to encourage children to fast when they reach the age of seven if they are physically capable of doing so.

Teachers realize that Muslim children might be less energetic during Ramadan.

"They are tired obviously. For swimming or physical education lessons, we ask a note from the parents just to say that their children are fasting and cannot take part," added Lall.

Like most British schools, Featherstone holds daily "assemblies", which aim to encourage pupils to absorb moral or religious values and a sense of respect for others.

For many schools in a country which has hundreds of thousands of people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin, such gatherings are a time to teach children about other religions.

"When the parents come in ... it's almost like a reflection time on celebration of all the religions we have," Lall said.

"Obviously, at this time of year, there are a lot of other festivals as well - Hanukkah (celebrated by Jews) and Diwali (celebrated by Hindus and Sikhs)… So we call this time of the year Festival of Light, and we try to celebrate all the festivals that are happening," she added.

The school, which has 700 pupils, is the kind of establishment that pleases the British education ministry, whose stated aim is to promote respect and understanding of other religious beliefs and practices.

So the sight of girls heading to classes wearing their hijab, and boys in turbans, does not arouse surprise as official guidelines state that Muslim girls and Sikh boys must be allowed to wear clothes "appropriate" to their traditions.

Lall said that pupils at Featherstone were exploring what it meant to be a citizen through looking at the concept of responsibility.

"We look for scripture on responsibility from all the religions in our school," she explained.