Fasting during the final exam
Ramadan starts tonight. This year it falls exactly in the exam period.
image: Pixabay
The fasting month of Ramadan coincides with the final exams this year. That was – in part – already the case last year, just like the year before. Because the fasting month starts a week earlier every year, Ramadan will coincide with the final exam period in the Netherlands for about four more years.
That is why MP Tunahan Kuzu of the Denk party already asked questions two years ago about the overlap of the exams with Ramadan. He believes that religious fasting periods should be taken into account when planning exams. In England and Flanders, schools have already adapted their exam schedule to Ramadan.
Encouragement
Unnecessary, professor of Islam and West Maurits Berger wrote today Trouw. Fasting is seen as an incentive to work even harder. You can also see that approach in Morocco and Turkey. Moroccan websites offer suggestions for diets that will get you through the day ('eat lots of nuts'!)'
You don't sink your teeth into a nice sandwich while your friend is fasting
Moreover: if you cannot learn well on an empty stomach, you can also postpone the fast, economics lecturer Sultan Göksen of the Marcanti College in Amsterdam-West, told the Education magazine. “In our faith it is permissible not to fast when you are sick or when other circumstances make it better not to. Exams are a good reason not to fast. We have students who normally participate in Ramadan, but do not do so during the exams. They can also make up for those missed days after the Sugar Festival.
Social pressure
Still, Göksen acknowledges that there is social pressure during Ramadan. “Almost all Muslim students participate. So sinking your teeth into a nice sandwich while your boyfriend fasts, you don't. But Muslim parents will encourage their child to eat and drink during the exams, because they want their child to be successful. ”
A study by the VU University Amsterdam in 2003 showed that Islamic fasting (ie: eating and drinking after sunset) has a negative influence on the exam results. Evrim Uyar, director of the Amsterdam Rosaschool, also has that experience, she told the Onderwijsblad. It is not the case that children run backwards in terms of learning performance during Ramadan, according to Uyar, but their learning capacity does decline. “That is why we asked parents when the Cito final test was taken during Ramadan, to allow their child to eat and drink during the day. Almost all parents did. ”
Also read the Education Magazine article 'Fatigue students during Ramadan'
