Asian-American students in NY to enjoy one day off for Spring Festival  

纽约州长签署法案同意纽约华裔学生春节放假一天

(ECNS) -- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law on Wednesday naming the Spring Festival as a statutory public holiday at schools with a dense population of Asian-American students.

Under this bill, students in New York State are allowed to have one day off for Spring Festival, lunar New Year.

This ruling was put forward in late January this year and gained wide support from the House of Representatives in New York. On May 13, the city senate finally passed this bill.

Spring Festival is the most important traditional holiday and an occasion for family reunions among Chinese, Korean and Japanese American communities, the bill states.

Asian-Americans account for 23 percent among a population of 2.2 million in Queens, New York, while in the Flushing Community, the figure is 57 percent.

Every Spring Festival, many Asian-Americans are absent from school, forcing councillors to propose this bill to avoid wasting educational resources and students missing classes.

Passing the law shows that the status of Asian-Americans has improved in New York and that Chinese culture is gaining acceptance in mainstream society, Community leader Hua Junxiong told China News Service.

The bill will only be applied at public schools in Asian-American communities and only 5% of all schools in New York, according to community leader Zhu Lichuang.

Whether public schools in the city will take this holiday is up to the New York City Department of Education.