Dhaka University, Bangladesh Declares Easter Sunday Holiday

(August 18, 2008) Christians hope a small step taken by Dhaka University to make Easter Sunday a holiday for all its students will lead to Easter and Christmas becoming national holidays for the whole country. Traditionally, Good Friday and Christmas were designated the two Christian holidays in Bangladesh. Since Sunday was a day of rest from the time of British colonial rule, Easter was automatically a holiday every year. In 1982, however, then-president Hossain Mohammad Ershad designated Friday and Saturday as the weekly holidays, and Sunday became a workday. According to Dr. A.F.M. Yusuf Haider, the university's pro vice-chancellor, Easter Sunday will be a holiday for all students at his university from 2009. He announced this development on July 25 while delivering a talk as chief guest during orientation for 80 new Christian students. The Bangladesh Student Christian Movement organized the event at the university. Dr Haider added that the institution, locally often called the "Oxford of the East," is the best place to practice communal harmony and everyone can freely practice their own religion. Nirmol Rozario, secretary of the Bangladesh Christian Association (BCA), told UCA News at the orientation program he welcomes his alma mater's move. Father Patrick Simon Gomes, secretary of the Catholic bishops' Episcopal Commission for Youth, also welcomes the news. According to Father Gomes, the new Easter Sunday holiday will boost the morale of Christians.