Christians across Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan urge governments to recognize Easter as a public holiday and avoid exams during Holy Week.
Newsroom (01/04/2026 Gaudium Press )Across South Asia, Christian communities are voicing growing frustration over what they call continuing neglect of their religious rights. In Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan — three of the region’s most populous nations — Christian leaders and activists have urged their governments to declare Easter Sunday a public holiday and to halt public examinations during Holy Week, the most sacred period in the Christian calendar.
The call, echoing across three borders, underscores a larger plea for equal recognition of minority faiths in societies where religious calendars and public life are often dominated by majority traditions.
Bangladesh: Decades-long Plea for Recognition
In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, about 300 Christians gathered outside the National Press Club on March 31 to form a peaceful human chain. Their demand was simple yet symbolically significant: make Easter Sunday a national holiday.
“Other religious communities enjoy multiple public holidays. Granting just one additional day for Christians would reflect equal respect and communal harmony,” said Nirmol Rozario, president of the Bangladesh Christian Association, which organized the demonstration.
For Bangladesh’s Christians — less than half a percent of the country’s 170 million citizens — the fight for recognition of Easter has spanned decades. Bishop Gervas Rozario of Rajshahi recalled that the community has sought an official holiday since the 1980s, when the government replaced Sunday with Friday as the weekly day off.
“This is not merely about convenience; it is a matter of dignity and recognition of the Christian community,” Bishop Rozario told UCA News. Many Christians employed in government or essential services, he explained, must work through Holy Week, forcing them to choose between professional obligation and faith.
Mala Rebeiro, a Catholic nursing instructor in government service, said the lack of official leave often means missing Mass entirely. “We have duties on Easter Sunday and are often forced to choose between work and religious observance,” she said.
For ethnic Garo Christian Sujon Nokrek, the restrictions mean family celebrations are cut short or skipped altogether: “Not having a holiday for Easter is sad because we cannot celebrate it properly with our families.”
India: Bishops Challenge Examinations on Easter
In India, anger simmered after the national engineering entrance exam, known as the JEE, was scheduled on Easter Sunday — traditionally a public holiday. Catholic bishops in Kerala described the decision as a violation of constitutional rights.
“Holding examinations on Christian sacred days amounts to a violation of the fundamental right to freely practice religion,” the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council said in a statement, calling the move an “unjust intrusion” on the religious freedom of Christians.
Church leaders and educators further noted that before the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, national examinations typically avoided Christian holidays. A Catholic priest, requesting anonymity, linked the change to what he called “growing insensitivity toward minority communities under the current government.”
Meanwhile, in eastern India’s Jharkhand state, Christian activists objected to the BJP’s call for a state-wide strike on Good Friday, April 3. The protest, announced after a high-profile criminal case, would overlap with the most solemn day in the Christian calendar.
“We have requested them to call off the strike on Good Friday,” said Ratan Tirkey, a former member of Jharkhand’s Tribal Advisory Committee. “It will severely affect Christians attending religious services across the state.”
Activist Joy Baxla added that the planned shutdown “risks disturbing the harmony that communities in Jharkhand have maintained for decades.”
Pakistan: Christians Torn Between Exams and Worship
In Pakistan, where Christians form a small minority among 240 million citizens, the clash between academic schedules and sacred observances has become a recurring battle. This year again, students in Punjab province are expected to sit for crucial grade-ten board exams on Good Friday, April 3, and on the Monday following Easter.
“It places children in a moral dilemma,” said Ata ur Rehman Saman of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace. “They cannot miss an exam, yet they are deprived of participating in church liturgies that define their faith.”
Sameer Emmanuel, a tenth-grade student from Lahore, said he would be “busy studying on Easter Sunday instead of celebrating with family and community.” His mother Rebecca described how the tests cast a shadow over family life: “We can’t prepare for the feast, and it feels like Easter is just another day.”
Though the Sindh provincial government this year directed education boards to avoid holding exams between April 2 and April 6 after appeals from church leaders, inconsistencies remain. Activists say the piecemeal approach highlights a broader lack of awareness.
“There is also the absence of Christian staff in these institutions who could highlight such concerns before decisions are made,” said Aftab Mughal, director of Minority Concern Pakistan.
A Shared Demand for Equal Respect
Across all three countries, the Christian community’s demands — rescheduling exams and declaring Easter Sunday a public holiday — center on deeper issues of equality and inclusion. For many, the recognition of Holy Week is not just about time off; it’s a matter of belonging.
“Respecting a community’s sacred days sends a strong message of harmony,” said a Bangladeshi priest at the Dhaka protest. “We ask only for parity — the same consideration that others already receive.”
For South Asia’s Christians, who often form less than one percent of their national populations, their plea resonates beyond policy. It is an appeal for acknowledgment — that their faith, too, has a place in the public life of their nations.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCA News
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