Holiday Regulations During Fasting Month in Indonesia, Is it Necessary?

Indonesia is the big country with the most moeslim population in the world, it is no wonder that most important state decisions intersect with religious rules. One is still widely debated today is "should the fasting month be a full holiday for high school student?" It is interesting, because look at the history, Indonesia once implemented this rule although this rule is no longer applicable. The prophet Muhammad himself said that Allah prefers strong servants over weak ones, this implies that fasting can still be done with normal activities. The question is should this rule be reintroduced? Or is just a trick which can hurt the holy meaning of fasting itself?

The month of Ramadhan is a month full of blessings. The real meaning of holding hunger during fasting is to refrain from lust, from that effort we expect blessings from God. In this month it is also advisable to multiply worship from other days, but from that meaning it is often misinterpreted with full worship which indirectly neglects our normal activities.

Reducing activities during fasting is necessary but of course we still have to prioritize the essence of our normal activities. Besides, the goal in the month of Ramadan is to increase worship, isn't studying knowledge also a form of worship? In addition, many experts also suggest the importance of exercise during fasting which indicates that normal activity can still be tolerated and even recommended as long as it is within the limits of our body's capabilities. That's why, school holidays during the month of Ramadan are considered inappropriate, apart from the normal activity factor, lagging behind lessons is also considered a bad thing because it can reduce the level of learning of students.

Looking at its history, Indonesia once imposed a regulation on school holidays during the fasting month with the excuse of reducing activity. However, this regulation was abolished by Daoed Joesoef who served as minister of education at the time. This decision was criticized by many parties, including Prof.H.M. Rasjidi who said this action was a form of secularization and secularism (Hanggoro, 2018).

From a health perspective, reducing activity during fasting is highly recommended. In some cases, especially in some people with certain diseases, fasting can cause certain reactions that bring our bodies down. For example, when fasting our bodies will naturally experience dehydration. This will be worse if accompanied by solid activity. Dehydration while fasting can cause weakness, electrolyte imbalance, and low blood pressure. Dehydration that occurs continuously can increase the risk of urinary tract infections, kidney stones, and fainting (Siloam Hospitals, 2023).

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia as a Muslim country abolished regulations regarding school holiday during Ramadhan which had been going for 14 years. They replaced it with regulations reducing the hours of activity on normal day and each regional governor could determine class duration policies in each school (Moeslim Choice, 2022). This should certainly be a consideration for Indonesia for the regulations we discussed earlier.

From the explanation above, we can conclude that reducing during fasting is necessary but it does not mean that teaching and learning activities, especially schools, are closed for a full month. There are many risks occur, such as a decrease in the quality of learning, a decrease in student enthusiasm for learning, as well as a large amount of material that must be pursued. The wisest solution is for the government to set a reduction in activity during the month of Ramadhan so that everything can run normally without any big risks in the future.