Rostam Shirzai has thought about what it will be like to fast during Ramadan for the first time at an American school. The Mira Mesa High School ninth grader moved to the U.S. with his family from Afghanistan eight months ago.
Once Ramadan starts, he’ll wake up at 4 a.m., eat, then fast from dawn to sunset. He said he’ll tell his friends he’s not going to be as active.
“I’m not going to have that energy, like, in the last hours of school,” Rostam said. “Maybe I'm not going to spend that much time with them, too.”
During lunch, he’ll go to his school’s psychology classroom. It’s where Muslim students go to pray. Instead of going on walks with his friends, he’ll save his energy and do homework instead.
“You kind of change in that time,” he said. “It’s going to be a relaxed month.”
Rostam will still be able to eat school meals during Ramadan. A new waiver from the California Department of Education allows districts to send breakfast and lunch home with students so they can eat when they’re not fasting.
San Diego Unified said it’s one of just five districts in the county offering to-go meals for students observing Ramadan.
“This waiver from the state, combined with the hard work of our nutrition staff, and cooperation with school site leaders, will allow us to better serve all of our students and families,” Alicia Pitrone Hauser, the district’s director of food and nutrition services, said in a statement. “For students fasting during Ramadan, this program allows us to send meals home with children to meet their nutrition needs once the daily fast has concluded.”
Rostam's dad, Mohammad Jawad Shirzai, said he appreciates that the district is thinking about kids like his.
“When we respect our beliefs, it is something good,” he said. “We can have a better life with each other.”
Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill requiring schools to provide accommodations in physical education (P.E.) classes for fasting students with a parent’s note.
Rostam thinks his P.E. teacher will be surprised he’s not running.
“I run a lot, and I'm always active,” Rostam said. “Maybe he's going to be kind of shocked.”
Many teachers and administrators don’t know about the new P.E. requirement, said Farida Erikat, program manager of the Majdal Arab Community Center of San Diego. Last month, she surveyed Muslim students in the Grossmont Union High School District about their experiences in school during Ramadan.
Some shared challenges with meeting assignment deadlines during Eid al-Fitr, a three-day holiday at the end of Ramadan.
“A lot of them feel like they have to trade off school versus Eid because it's not a school-recognized holiday in the same way other holidays are,” she said. “They have to choose between, ‘Do I get to participate in religious worship and be with my family and celebrate, or do I have this final, or do I have this AP exam, or do I have this group assignment to do?’”
Erikat said schools can support Muslim students by designating places for students to pray, like the psychology classroom at Mira Mesa High School. They can adjust assignment deadlines for students taking time off to celebrate Eid. They can hire Arab and Muslim teachers and educate students about their culture.
“I think a lot of students grow up thinking that, coming from an immigrant family, it's kind of this model minority myth, of like, ‘I have to kind of keep my head down and just be like the good immigrant and the good Muslim,’ and kind of combat a lot of the rhetoric that maybe villainizes us,” Erikat said. “What I want for youth today is to not feel hindered by these narratives, but to actually feel like they can get what they need to succeed.”
Ramadan is expected to begin Friday night. San Diego Unified’s meal program runs through March 28. Sign-up forms are available on the district’s website.
