Diwali Becomes an Official Holiday for NYC Public Schools

Diwali, a celebration of lights in many Southern Asian, Indian and Caribbean cultures, to celebrate the triumph of good over evil is now going to be an official holiday in New York City public schools.

Not only is this a milestone for the South Asian and the Indo-Caribbean community, but for New Yorkers as well, Mayor Adams and Education Chancellor David Banks said at a ceremony to make the announcement at the City Council meeting on June 26. They were jointed by Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar who helped get state lawmakers to pass the legislation okaying the celebration of the holiday in NYC schools.

“This is a victory, not only for the men and women of the Indian community and all communities that celebrate Diwali, but a victory for New York. New York continues to lead the way,” Mayor Adams said in the City Council meeting. “This is a city that’s continuously changing, continuously welcoming communities from all over the world — our school calendar must reflect the new reality on the ground.”

The bill still awaits the signature of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has been supportive of Diwali celebrations in the past.

The holiday is set to be celebrated on November 12 which this year falls on a Sunday so it will not be added to the school calendar until 2024. That means a four day weekend in the future since November 11, is already an official day off for Veterans Day.

“It’s less about the fact that schools will be closed in recognition of Diwali,” said Schools Chancellor David Banks. “It is more about the fact that minds will be opened because of what we are going to teach them about Diwali.”

The new holidsay means NYC Public Schools will have 33 days off built into the school year, which will still require students to attend 180 days of school per academic year. The city’s public schools close in addition to spring break and winter break also close in observance of several major religious or cultural celebrations, Jewish holidays Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Passover and Christian holy days Good Friday and Christmas. Two Muslim holidays were added in 2015, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

In Mayor Adams’ speech at the City Council meeting, he recalled a passage from Indian civil rights activist Mahatma Ghandi who was a hero for Martin Luther King Jr. in bringing civil rights victories for the black community. Dr. King was martyred civil rights leader from the 60s but legislation making Martin Luther King, Jr., Day a federal holiday in the United States was passed in 1983, and it was not until 1986 that there was a nationwide observance.

Mayor Adams and New York Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar have been front and center in the decades long fight to make Diwali a federal holiday for schools.

“We have been fighting to make #Diwali an @NYCSchools holiday for a long time. Join us at City Hall,” Mayor Adams Tweeted on Monday, June 26.

“It is enshrined in law, Diwali at last will be a holiday in our great city,” Rajkumar said in the City Council meeting. “So today we say to all of our 600,000 Hindus, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain Americans across New York City, we see you.”

Rajkumar is the first Hindu and Indian American elected into office in Albany.

“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair,” Rajkumar said in the City Council meeting. Those were the words of her predecessor Shirly Chisholm who was the first black woman to be elected in the US House of representatives. “As the first elected in our community, I picked up my folding chair and went to Albany to make a place for us at the table of power and to fight for our community to be seen.”

“All the Hindu children now get to feel like they belong,” Dibya Talukder, a sophomore at Cornell University said in a press conference at City Hall.

However, the day off for Diwali will have to be negotiated by the city and teachers’ union for the ’24 ’25 school year. Micheal Mulgrew, the president of the Union Federation of Teachers previously indicated his support for adding the holiday.