We, the authors and sponsors of this petition, are all students currently enrolled in NYC schools. Even though we have lived here our whole lives and NYC is our home, we have felt marginalized every year when Diwali comes and, instead of celebrating at home with our families, we are forced to prioritize our education over our heritage. Therefore, we have started this campaign to help raise awareness of Diwali, and to ask Mayor Adams to declare Diwali as an official holiday for NYC public schools.

Diwali is the festival of lights, signifying the victory of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. On this day, millions of people from all over the world light lamps called diyas inside and around their homes reminding themselves to be that ‘light’ unto the world - to continue to spread positivity and cheer to everyone around them. It’s a day when many Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh families get together and pray for the inner wealth of virtue so that they can continue to live a righteous life and serve society to the best of their abilities. 

Diwali is an official public holiday in 10 countries spanning 4 continents. The 10 countries are India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore (all in Asia), Guyana, Trinidad, and Suriname (all in South America), Mauritius (Africa), and Fiji (Oceania). According to the Asian-American Federation, Indian-Americans represent over 3% of the city’s population—247,000 people—and a whopping 20% of those are children under 18 in NYC schools. Moreover, according to the Indo-Caribbean Alliance, NYC is home to over 228,000 foreign-born residents of Guyanese or Trinidadian descent, who in turn have thousands of children who were born and raised here and are currently enrolled in NYC schools. The city is also home to 12,000 Nepalese-Americans and 5,000 Sri Lankan-Americans, and since 2015, the Caribbean Equality Project has participated in celebrations like the Diwali Motorcade and Brooklyn Diwali, highlighting the importance that Diwali holds for many LGBTQ+ people as well. So, a holiday for Diwali would be an important way to honor the heritage of many New Yorkers from many diverse backgrounds. 

Many private schools in NYC already give a day off on Diwali, including all eight members of the New York Interschool consortium. However, the vast majority of NYC families who celebrate Diwali enroll their children in public schools, and those students deserve the same rights and recognition as their private school counterparts. In fact, that is why Diwali has already been recognized as an official holiday for public schools in many of NYC’s neighboring districts, including twelve school districts in Long Island and twenty-three school districts in New Jersey. As Mayor Adams recently said, “we should never have allowed Long Island to beat us” in making Diwali an official holiday. Let’s not let them beat us any longer! 

On May 11th 2021, Mayor Adams made a campaign promise to make Diwali a holiday, and on Feb 9th 2022, he repeated that promise in front of the NY State Senate. But the proposal has not passed yet, which is why on Oct 2nd 2022, Mayor Adams said “I’m going to need the whole community to help me make this happen”. So please sign this petition to help Mayor Adams fulfill his promise, and make Diwali an official holiday for NYC public schools. Diwali Matters. Representation Matters!

NOTE: this petition was started by NYC Middle and High School Students. If you are also a student and want to help us spread the word, please email: DiwaliNewYork@gmail.com.