Plans to modify GCSE exams’ timetable to avoid coinciding with the holy fasting month of Ramadan have been suggested for debates later this month to accommodate Muslim students whose performance might be affected by long hours of fasting.

"Institutions should be prepared to consider significant adjustments to their exam schedules and think creatively about assessment methods in order to eliminate disadvantage to particular groups," the spokesman of Equality Challenge Unit, which advises higher education, told the Daily mail earlier this month.

The plans were first proposed by Teachers and lecturers in England and Wales who urged more suitable options to fit in with the fasting Muslim students.

Suggestions included calls for bringing forward GCSE and A-level examinations before May and June in 2016 that will coincide with the holy month of Ramadan.

Another proposal called for holding exams in the morning when Muslim students are not hungry and exhausted.

A third option suggests granting fasting students extra marks under special consideration rules, in case "they believe their performance has been affected".

Ahead of ATL conference, Muslim groups have met with Ofqual, the exam watchdog, and the Joint Council for Qualifications, which represents the main three exam boards, to discuss the issue.

Muslim students at the University of East Anglia in Norwich are allowed to submit an "extenuating circumstance" during Ramadan.

They were told: "Where a student feels that fasting has affected their performance, this should be submitted as an extenuating circumstance."

Britain is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2.7 million.

In Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, adult Muslims abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset.

Fasting is meant to teach Muslims patience, self-control and spirituality, and time during the holy month is dedicated for getting closer to Allah though prayers, reading the Noble Qur’an and good deeds.

The majority of Muslims prefer to pay Zakah for the poor and needy during the month.

Controversial

Proposals to accommodate Muslim students, by overhauling exams timetable in England and Wales, were vehemently rejected by members of the Campaign for Real Education.

"Where there is scope for some flexibility the exam boards should exercise it, but I don’t think it is realistic for a board to rearrange their timetable to fit in with a minority religion, or any religion for that matter," said Chris McGovern, a former head teacher and spokesman for the Campaign for Real Education.

"If you run exams in the morning because of this, you may be disadvantaging a non-Muslim pupil who then has two exams in one day rather than one," he added.

McGovern also suggested that Muslim students can be excused from fasting during exams.

"I think students who are Muslims should take guidance from their leaders regarding the requirements of Ramadan," McGovern told the Telegraph.

"My understanding is that exemptions are possible."

Despite opposition voices, Ramadan plans were welcomed by several education experts in UK.

“The consequences are quite huge, particularly with the return to three-hour exams at the end of the course in the summer," Barry Lingard, of the ATL executive committee, said.

"If some of the big vital exams like English and maths could be rescheduled for before Ramadan kicks in, that would certainly be supported by the majority of teachers," he added.

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