Nashville School Allows Muslim Students to Leave Class to Pray During Ramadan

A public school in Nashville, Tennessee is allowing Muslim students to leave class to pray in a space reserved especially for them during the school day. 

John Overton High School also offers food-free classrooms to Muslim students who are fasting during Ramadan, Fox News reported, citing a local news outlet. Ten teachers reportedly volunteered their classrooms to be used as food-free spaces for Muslims students during lunch, per the report. 

A member of the school’s support staff named Al-Nadir Muhammad oversees the students’ prayer time and offers support to Muslim students on campus, according to the report. 

“The report noted how students met in a foyer, laid paper towels down for makeshift prayer mats and put a divider between girls and boys before one student led a prayer and recited verses from the Quran,” the report continues. 

The local news outlet previously reports that Muslim students are allowed to leave class once a month to pray on campus outside the month of Ramadan. 

The school refined its prayer system after several years of being asked to do so by students and staff, according to the report. The American Muslim Advisory Council also sent a letter to the school district asking teachers to support Muslim students during Ramadan by giving them a special space for lunch and allowing them to skip heavy physical activity while fasting, per the report.

“It is a Muslim’s right to fast and receive reasonable accommodations at school or work,” the letter reportedly read. 

The U.S. Department of Education released guidance in February for prayer in public schools, saying schools should allow students to “act and speak according to their faith” as long as everyone’s rights are respected and the school is not pushing religion or favoring one over another, according to the report. 

The school’s leadership did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment by the time of publication.