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21:27 GMT
NEW YORK, March 4 (KUNA) -- New York City has added the Muslim occassions of Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha as public school holidays.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina announced on Wednesday that the nation's largest school system will close for Eid Al-Adha next September. Summer school will also close for Eid-Al-Fitr in 2016.
"I am proud to say that this now makes New York City the largest school district in the nation to take this action, so this is a historic moment for our country as well," de Blasio expressed at the PS/IS 30 Mary White Ovington School in Bay Ridge.
"The Muslim faith," he added, "is one of the fastest growing in this nation and in this city, and many, many city students celebrate Eid Al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan and Eid Al-Adha at the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
"This is about respect for one of the great faiths of this earth," he said. (end)
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