Egypt announces a week-long school holiday for Eid al-Fitr, extending the break for students and educators nationwide [Getty]
Students and teachers in Egypt are set to enjoy an extended school break to mark the upcoming Eid al-Fitr celebration, as the country’s education minister announced a week-long school holiday from 29 March.
Minister of Education and Technical Education Mohamed Abdel-Latif said on Monday that schools nationwide would be closed for the holiday until 4 April with classes set to resume on 5 April.
It follows a decree by Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Sunday, which grants a four-day paid public holiday for both the private and public sectors from 29 March to 1 April.
Egyptian Labour Minister Mohamed Gobran said the holiday could be extended to 2 April due to the moon sighting that determines the start of the Islamic holiday.
Gobran stressed that his government has sought to “unify official holiday dates for all employees in various government sectors- whenever possible- to achieve the social and national purpose of official holidays”.
If employees are required to work during the holiday they must be compensated with double their regular daily wage, the minister said.
The news comes after Egyptian media initially reported that private sector employees would only receive a two-day holiday, which deviated from customary practice in previous years and garnered backlash in the country.
Last week, Egypt’s National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) stated that Eid Al-Fitr will begin on Sunday 30 March, as well as for other Arab countries, according to its astronomical calculations.
However, despite the NRIAG statement, the final declaration will be made by the country’s Dar al-Ifta, the official Egyptian Islamic body responsible for issuing fatwas according to the sighting of the moon.
Eid Al-Fitr is a three-day festival in the Islamic lunar calendar that signifies an end to the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims typically fast from sunrise to sunset.
Its start is determined by the sighting of the Shawwal crescent, the month following Ramadan, after sunset on the 29th day of Ramadan.
The Islamic Hijri calendar assigns months either 29 or 30 days, depending on the sighting of the crescent.
