Despite a new law that officially recognized Diwali as a holiday in Connecticut, Staples and most public high schools in Fairfield County remained open on Monday, Oct. 20, as Diwali was celebrated throughout the world.
Diwali, known as the Hindu “Festival of Lights,” is the biggest public holiday in India, the most populous country of the world. In addition to Hindus, it is also celebrated by Jains and Sikhs, other religious groups. In August, Governor Ned Lamont signed Public Act 25-59 which marks the 15th day of the month of Kartik (between October and November of the Gregorian calendar) in the Hindu calendar as Diwali. Connecticut is now one of just three states, including Pennsylvania and California, to mark Diwali as a state holiday.
The date of Diwali changes each year. This year it fell on Oct. 20 and 21. Most schools did not close to give observants the day to celebrate. In Fairfield County, only Trumbull schools were closed. Outside of Fairfield County, public schools in Newington, Avon, South Windsor, West Hartford, Ellington and Rocky Hill were closed.
The State of Connecticut only mandates that schools close for three holidays: Christmas, New Years Day and Martin Luther King Day. Other school holidays are left to the local school district.
In Westport, like most school districts, the Board of Education and the superintendent work together to make the school calendar. The superintendent proposes and creates a calendar, and the BOE officially approves it. Each school district has the autonomy to decide whether or not their schools will close for certain holidays or events. This results in significant variation of the schedules, even among local school districts. Fairfield schools, for example, have off for Veteran’s Day but Westport does not.
“I don’t celebrate Diwali, but I do celebrate Eid which is another holiday of a minority religion in Westport,” Elena Nasar ’27 said. “I think for both of these holidays, regardless of how much of the population celebrates this holiday, we should have the day off because it is a worldwide holiday and should be acknowledged, even if it is for only a small part of our town to celebrate.”
Eid al-Ftir is a school holiday in the Norwalk and Fairfield school districts.
Westport’s school calendar was set at a Board of Education meeting in April, before the enactment of the law making Diwali an official holiday. During the April meeting, Diwali was not discussed, but the Board of Education asked Superintendent Thomas Scarice if he had considered adding Eid as a school holiday.
“We don’t have a recommendation to add that right now,” Scarice said.
He further noted that the decision to add holidays would “depend on the community,” adding, “We would need to put a system or a standard in place for when we decide to [add a holiday].”
Scarice committed to evaluate the school holidays of other school districts in the region and compare them to Westport’s school holidays.
