President Sergio Mattarella has given
his backing to a school near Milan that has sparked a row by
giving its 40% Muslim students the day off on Eid al-Fitr on
April 10, when Muslims celebrate breaking their month-long
Ramadan fast.
The school staff have received death threats from rightwingers
and been accused of penalising non-Muslim students.
Mattarella on Tuesday night replied to the deputy head of the
school at Pioltello who wrote to him inviting him to visit the
institute.
In his reply to Maria Rendani, he said: "I received and
carefully read your letter and, in thanking you, I would like to
tell you that I very much appreciate it, just as - beyond the
single episode, which is actually of modest importance - I
appreciate the work that the teaching staff and the institute
bodies do in carrying out a precious and particularly demanding
task".
The Iqbal Masih school is named after a Pakistani Christian
child labourer and activist who campaigned against abusive child
labour in Pakistan and who was assassinated at the age of 12 on
16 April 1995.
It has stressed that the students will make the day up.
Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara and the regional education
office had urged the institute to rethink its move.
photo: Mattarella inaugurates a show on 19th century Naples art
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