Hindus want 10 more festivals added to Los Angeles schools’ Calendar of Observances

NEVADA - Hindus have urged Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in USA to add 10 more Hindu festivals, including Durgapuja, to its “Calendar of Commemorative Dates and Observances” (CCDO).

Notable Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Hinduism was rich in festivals and festivals were very dear to Hindu families. Moreover, adding the festivals would bring more awareness about Hinduism in the larger Los Angeles community, thus creating more cohesiveness and unity in the society.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, listed the festivals to be added to this Calendar of Commemorative Dates and Observances as: Durgapuja, Goverdhan Puja, Gudi Padwa, Guru Purnima, Hanuman Jayanti, Lohri, Naga Panchami, Onam, Pongal, and Ugadi.

Rajan Zed also demanded that Diwali, the most popular Hindu holy day, be added to the District holiday calendar. Since it was important for Hindu families to celebrate Diwali day together at home with their children, we did not want our children to be deprived of any privileges at the school because of thus resulting absences on this day.

This LAUSD CCDO already includes following Hindu days in School Year 2010-11: Dasera, Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Janmashtami, Maha Shivaratri, Makar Sankranti, Navaratri, Raksha Bandhan, Ramanavani, and Vasant Panchami.

Purpose of CCDO is to be a resource for schools who wish to incorporate these dates into their instructional activities, and for reference in scheduling school activities. LAUSD, whose tagline is “building a world class education”, has 1,074,691 students in 1273 schools and centers. Spread over 710 square miles, besides city of Los Angeles, it also serves many other cities and several unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Ramon C. Cortines is Superintendent and Monica Garcia is President of Board of Education of this District, whose total expenses are reportedly 5.1 billion dollars. (ANI)