IT IS NOT often I enthuse about one of your news in brief columns but I welcome with open arms the article on schools closing for diverse religious festivals such as Diwali.

As an ex-teacher, I believe anything that keeps us away from the “chalk face” to be a positive blessing.

As we celebrate Christmas, surely it is only right for us to give equal time to Yom Kippur, Eid, Passover, Voodooism, Jashn-e-Tirgan (Zoroastrian), Asalha Puja (Buddhist), O’Bon (Japanese), the Sundance (Native American), the Anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Bab (Baha’i), not forgetting The Birthday of Haile Selassie the 1st (Rastafarian).

Mind you, we should also include the Ascension and Ash Wednesday and, respecting Wicca, Mayday and the Summer Solstice.

To the many religions I have omitted I humbly apologise but suggest they submit their applications for non-school days; the more the merrier. Add to these the four British saints’ day holidays suggested by Jeremy Corbyn, not to mention the myriad saints endemic to the Catholic church and in all probability we shall not have to attend school at all.

This would be a situation universally welcomed by teachers and students alike as eminently preferable to suffering the ill-advised and bumbling bureaucracy of the modern education system.

Julian R Powell
Larch Grove
Malpas Park
Newport