Korean Job Discussion Forums

[fromtheuk]

Today my Principal talked to me saying I cannot pray at school. As a Muslim I must pray at lunch time, I can combine prayers, but must do it at school soon, because the 5 daily prayer times will get earlier.

He said I can't pray.

I've emailed Dain and await her reply with interest.

Any thoughts about her answer? I may have to change schools.


Hi Dain,




As a Muslim I must pray during certain times, 5 times a day.



I have prayed at my school, for the last year, during lunch, privately.



And now the Principal is telling me it's not allowed to do religious activities.



I have to pray during lunch, just once.



I can combine prayers.



Can you clarify my rights please?



Fromtheuk.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I had promised myself I'd never open any more of your posts but this one did catch my eye. If indeed you are an English-Pakistani of questionable intellect and not a persistant troll, just go around the cafeteria at lunch taking pics of all the Christians saying grace before they eat.

[Adventurer]

Muslims can do late prayers. If you miss your afternoon prayer, do a make-up prayer if it is such a big deal. I am sure the beneficent Lord would understand:) Principals in Korea can do what they want. This is not the U.K.

[wings]

Most of the teachers at my school pray at lunch in front of everyone else. Don't do it in front of the kids, do it privately. If they don't see you do it, they won't know about it.

[fromtheuk]

I always pray privately, so what's the issue?

This is proof of nasty idiocy being the norm at my school.

I'll have to find a room sneakily and pray in it, if the board says I can't.

[Countrygirl]

I agree. This is ridiculous on the part of the school....but oh so Korean.

Are Muslim prayers said out loud so that the students could hear? If the parents are complaining this will be a hard battle. If the students don't hear or see you, I don't see the problem.

I suggest you call Dain if you want a quicker response. Good luck.

[Draz]

None of the teachers at my school were obvious about saying prayer at lunch. They would only close their eyes for a moment. No sign of the cross, their lips didn't even move.

[fromtheuk]

I've sussed it. It's the scumbag Korean colleagues of mine who complain any chance they get. They must have seen me enter the room I pray in.

They complained about our class microphone before.

I pray in total silence, in total privacy, only during my lunch break.

Dain sent an autoreply, she is out of the office right now.

[Otherside]

In the top-left corner, in the silver and white pinstriped trunks weighing in at 170pounds and stinking of Soju we have the korean principal. With a record of 15wins-3losses, all by technical passout he is a feared opponant.

In the bottom-right corner weighing in at 1300 odd years, we have his vindictiveness, his holyness and the all mighty AAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLAHHHH!! With thousands of victories spanning a career of centuries and an army of fanatical supporters he would be the favourite under most circumstances...but he's fighting on his opponants home turf.

Korean principal came out of nowhere and threw in a couple of cheap shots to take round 1, how will it go for the rest of the fight? Tune into fromtheuk's mundane life blog on the ESLCAFE.com forums for the rest of this intriguing contest. Brought to you by TEFL international and the midnightrunnerpodcast!

[jay-shi]

I'm curious fromtheuk, how long are these prayer sessions?

As others have said, I think there is a way to sneak a prayer somewhere chill in a school. It would also be awesome to have the approval of the p, vp etc.

[fromtheuk]

Hey man, Allaah is the Greatest. Leave the vindictive bit out.

I have some kind of good news. I just checked the prayer times for the entire year.

Muslims pray once at dawn, second in the early afternoon, third in mid afternoon, fourth at sunset, and the fifth in the evening.

Now, we are allowed to combine the second and third prayer, at the time of either prayer, out of necessity. So, my main concern is to be able to pray those 2 afternoon prayers, before the fourth (sunset prayer) begins.

The point here is those prayers must be prayed before the sunset prayer starts.

So...........

I finish work at 4.40pm, and the earliest sunset prayer time in Bucheon 2008 is 5.14pm.

I live under 10 mins away from school on foot. Before we pray we must wash ourselves e.g. hands, mouth, feet etc. For about 2 days the sunset prayer will be at 5.14pm. But it changes everyday by a couple of minutes. So after a couple of days or so, the time of sunset prayer will get later e.g. 5.16pm, 5.18pm, 5.20pm etc.

During that time of the year (5.14pm, around December), I'll wash myself before I leave school, get home quickly, comfortably before 5pm. It takes me about 5 minutes to complete one prayer, which will give me enough time to pray before 5.14pm.

If I don't get permission to pray at school, I'm ok anyway.

Lastly, my renewal contract in May this year was apparently stamped with a mark the Principal doesn't like. He wants me to sign an identical contract with a stamp he likes on it.

Bizarre.

What would you do?

[spliff]

I've got an idea. Don't pray, but if any of your Muslim friends ask about it, say you did.

[fromtheuk]

About 12 minutes during my lunch break, done in total isolation without any noise whatsoever.

[nobbyken]

[Roving_gypsy_gurl]

Is it impossible to just leave the school during a break and say your prayers? I assume you're praying during break times anyway. Just head outside for a few minutes and return when you're done.