200 schoolchildren want Russian state exam postponed due to Jewish holiday

Two hundred Russian schoolchildren attending traditional Jewish schools have asked the the Education and Science Ministry to postpone the Unified State Exam school test as this year it falls on the Shavuot holiday, Russian website NewsRu.com reported on Thursday.

Berel Lazar, the chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities and the Chief Rabbi of Russia, has said that the Unified State Exam concurs with the Shavuot - one of the main Jewish holidays celebrated on May 29.

"In the course of the holiday, observant Jews don’t go to work, don’t drive any vehicles, don’t’ write or even switch electric devices on or off. That’s why doing any school task on this day falls out of line  with the Jewish religion” Berel Lazar said.

The Russian Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko has let the Jewish pupils take the exam on the reserve day.

“Taking account of freedom of conscience, we let the children take the exam on June 17. The religious views are certainly an admissible excuse.” Andrei Fursenko said.  

Unified State Exam was first introduced in 2001 in some parts of Russia in test mode. In 2009 all school graduates around the country will have to take two obligatory exams – Russian and mathematics, and also can choose some more tests depending on what career they are planning for themselves.

The word “Shavuot” means “weeks”. It marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and Shavuot. During these seven weeks, the Jewish people cleansed themselves of the scars of Egyptian slavery and became a holy nation, ready to enter into an eternal covenant with God with the giving of the Torah.

On the Gregorian calendar, Shavuot usually falls around late May or early June.