Navratri itself is listed for a whopping 10 days.
AB Wire
The New Jersey’s Board of Education has added 19 Hindu festivals to the religious holiday list, which would permit school-going students in the state to take leave on those days, without any repercussions.
‘The List of Religious Holidays Permitting Student Absence from School’ included four festivals in October itself, including Navaratri, which alone is listed for 10 days, according to the Hudson Reporter.
This “list of religious holidays on which it shall be mandatory to excuse a student” includes the Hindu festivals of Guru Purnima, Naga Panchami, Raksha Bandhan, Krishna Janmashtami, Ganesha Chaturthi, Onam, Navaratri, Duserra, Diwali, Goverdhan Puja, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Vasant Panchami, Maha Shivaratri, Holi, Chandramana Yugadi, Souramana Yugadi, Ramnavami and Hanuman Jayanti.
Universal Society of Hinduism urged the Board in the past to include five festivals on the list, which are included in this list.
According to the NJSBE resolution, “Any student absent from school because of a religious holiday may not be deprived of any award or of eligibility or opportunity to compete for any award because of such absence.” The resolution also states, “Students who miss a test or examination because of absence on a religious holiday must be given the right to take an alternate test or examination.” Also according to the resolution, “Any absence because of a religious holiday must be recorded…as an excused absence.”