KUCHING: Deepavali is a school holiday in Sarawak for the fourth consecutive year.
Sarawak Education Department has confirmed there would be no classes on Oct 25 (Friday) and 28 (Monday) in conjunction with Deepavali, which falls on Oct 27.
“This is based on the 2019 nationwide school holiday calendar. It involves schools only,” said its director Dr Azhar Ahmad when contacted yesterday.
Sarawak is the only state in Malaysia not observing Deepavali as a public holiday although there have been calls made the minority Indian community for the state government to declare it so.
Based on previous news reports, Deepavali is a school holiday in Sarawak since 2016, but only for students and teachers.
According to the 2019 nationwide school holiday calendar, Sarawak is listed under Group B together with Perlis, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Pahang, Sabah and Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya.
Those under Group A are Kedah, Johor, Kelantan and Terengganu, which are states which hold schooling sessions from Sunday to Thursday.
Schools under Group B will have their holidays starting Oct 25. Schools under Group A and B will continue to be on holidays on Oct 28 and 29 (Monday and Tuesday) except for schools in Sarawak which will start schooling sessions on Oct 29.
A senior education officer, while confirming that schools would be closed on those two days, those same two days would still be normal working days for officers and other staff at education offices throughout the state.