New York City public schools will give students and teachers days off for Diwali, Lunar New Year and Eid al-Adha in the 2025–26 academic year. Eid holidays have been recognized by many schools previously, and Diwali was added citywide in 2023; 2025–26 is the first time all three holidays appear together on the public-school calendar. Community groups lobbied for years to align the calendar with the city's demographics, with more than a million students and a student body that speaks 180 languages. Extra days off may create childcare challenges and pressure to meet minimum instructional hours, potentially extending the school year, while reducing conflicts between observance and attendance and creating learning opportunities about diverse traditions.
For the 2025-26 academic year, students and teachers will officially have the day off for Diwali, Lunar New Year and Eid al-Adha. Kids are already cheering. Parents? They might be frantically checking who's free for babysitting. While Eid holidays have been recognized by many schools in the past and Diwali was first added to the citywide calendar in 2023, the 2025-26 school year marks the first time all three holidays appear together, woven firmly into the city's academic schedule.
Of course, not everyone's thrilled. Extra days off can throw working families into childcare scrambles, and the DOE still has to meet its minimum instructional hours, which means school years that already stretch late into June may creep even closer to July. Still, the upside is big. For Hindu, Muslim and Asian American students, not having to choose between showing up for class and celebrating a major holiday is no small deal.
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