EH, one of the few times I agree with you.
Shaf, your analogy is just so stupid. You can't see the difference between religion from education??? PE is generally required in schools for health reasons. I have never known a public school that had ballet as a course, either elective or required. There is a difference between a church choir and a school choir. If I were you I would stop arguing your points as it is only going to make you look seriously foolish.
If it is so important for these Muslim children pray during school hours, then the wise thing would be to put them in an Islamic school where they can make rules that suit the student body, no different from Hebrew or Catholic schools, which requires tuition. These Muslim students, who are probably the minority in the school, are getting a free education at the taxpayers expense. I can't help but wonder if this practice was put before the Parents Committee or the District School Board ffor approval, or if the principal of the school took it upon him/herself to implement it. If I had a child in that school, I would be pulling her out. School is for education not a place for religion, especially when you have children of different religious beliefs. What's next: two cafeterias, one for Muslims serving halal food and one for everyone else? Make Islam a required course in public schools? Make Arabic a required language??
In the US Catholic children attending public elementary school would leave school Wednesdsay afternoons to attend religious instructions in a Catholic school. Those instructions are not conducted in public schools - separation of church and state. If Catholic children can be released to attend religious instruction, then let the Muslim children leave the school early on Friday and go to the mosque.
What you don't get Shaf is it is this kind of bending to Muslim demands that creates resentment towards Muslims. Pushing Islam down peoples throats and catering to Muslims creates for bad feelings. But I guess in your book, bringing prayer, in this case Islam, into public schools is an achievement.
As for girls and their periods, it's a natural female bodily function. Putting girls to the side because they can't pray is putting the spotlight on them and basically announcing they have their periods.
I have sisters-in-law who don't go to the mosque for the prayers, they pray 5 times a day at home. I don't know if they ever saw the inside of a mosque because in reality a mosque is a mans world. Watch the Arabic channels on Friday Shaf and see just how many women are in the mosque - or are they so far in the back in a room that they can't be seen??