Major Milestone for Sikhs, US Schools

http://www.sikhcoalition.org/advisories/MilestoneSikhCurriculum.htm


(Austin, Texas) - The fight to include education on Sikhs in the Texas state curriculum likely passed a major milestone last week. With the Coalition and community playing an active role, Texas Board of Education members again considered whether the state curriculum should include information on Sikhs during hearings from March 10 to March 12 in Austin, Texas.

At this point, it seems very likely that Sikhism will be included in 3 areas: 6th grade, World Geography, and World History. Once the draft of the curriculum standards is made available for public review on April 9th, we can confirm if Sikhism is indeed included. A final vote on the state curriculum will be held in May.

Why Texas Matters
Decisions made on new classroom standards in the coming months will determine how 4.8 million students in Texas are taught social studies for the next decade.

More importantly, Texas curriculum standards are often used by textbook publishers to develop material for the whole nation, since Texas is America's second largest textbook purchaser. Curriculum standards determine the information contained in school textbooks. Experts estimate that the decisions made by the Texas Board of Education affect the textbooks used in 46 other states.

Next Steps
The social studies curriculum revisions began over nine months ago. At that time, Sikhism or any mention of Sikhs was absent from these standards. Since that time, the Coalition has been working with several members of the state board, organization allies, and Sikh community members to include Sikhism in the standards.

The Coalition will continue to work with the community to ensure that the Sikh voice is heard during the curriculum standard development process.

Thats great news. Next we need to have Sikhi include in California History classes. I was talking to a World History teacher the other day and he mentioned that none of his book have any information about Sikhi. How can teachers teach about WW2 , British Imperialism, World Monotheistic RElgions and not mention Sikhi?

Sikhs have been in California for almost 100 years so I dont understand why the schools have not made efforts to teach Students about Sikhs this is especially important during post 9/11.

Guru Piyario,

Waheguru ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji Ki Fateh

That is very good news! Guru Sahib kirpa karan combined efforts of all Sikhs would not go waste. When we work together Guru Sahib do help us especially in these circumstances where we have no political influence. With help of Sikh Coalition and other community members following is what achieved in state of New Jersey and still marching to go further to include for every class grade. As daas mentioned in other post if more Singh/Singhnia get involved it is not difficult task. Daas is posting below just for the encouragement. Bhai Sukhdeep Singh jio where ever we live if get we actively participate then achievement is not that far. Daas remembered on that day when we entered the building we were not sure if it will be get passed due to the fact that we are very small community without any significant political influence. So, before we went inside the education board building Daas was asked to do Ardaas by Dr. Gurparkash Singh (sitting right) and we did ardass right in the lobby of that building. It was combined effort and it did paid off. Try to get involve more and more singhs from CA and if this daas can help in any way please do not hesitate to order this daas.

With Regards,
Daas
Jasjit Singh

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1.4 Million New Jersey Students to Learn About Sikhs



September 25, 2009 (Trenton, NJ) - The New Jersey State Board of Education (NJBOE) voted to adopt a statewide curriculum standard that includes Sikhism last week. The adoption also marks the first time the Coalition has worked with the community to persuade a state to adopt curriculum standards that include Sikhism.

The Sikh Coalition commends the state Board of Education and urges all state Boards of Education to take similar measures. This is an important first step towards ensuring that Sikh parents and students do not solely carry the burden of educating students on Sikhs and Sikh practices.

What Happened
Last week the NJBOE voted to adopt the following social studies Content Standard for all middle school students in the state:
"Compare and contrast the tenets of various world religions (e.g., Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Toaism), their patterns of expansion and response to the current challenges of globalization."

In New Jersey, Content Standards provide the basis by which local school districts create curriculum and lesson plans for their students. Local school districts also use the Content Standards as a guide to purchase the textbooks used in their schools.
The adoption of this particular standard means that all New Jersey public school students must learn about Sikhism and its tenets in relation to other world faith traditions during middle school.

Great Result - But Our Work Only Begins
In addition to adding Sikhism to the Content Standards, the Board of Education has also promised that Sikh issues will be added to Classroom Application Documents (CADs). CADs are supplemental guides that teachers use to provide content to the curriculum standards. The Sikh Coalition, Sikh Research Institute, New Jersey Sikh community members, and the Board of Education will work together to develop these CADs. The CADs will address the issues of Sikh immigration to America, discrimination in the workforce and military, post 9/11 backlash on Sikhs, bullying issues as they relate to Sikh students, and how the media perpetuates stereotyping and how that affects Sikhs.

A Real Community Effort: The Six Year Journey to Adoption
The journey to adoption was a long and arduous process. On December 9, 2003, the Sikh Coalition in partnership with eight New Jersey Gurdwaras released a detailed New Jersey Civil Rights Agenda during a press conference at the State Capitol Building in Trenton, New Jersey. The press conference specifically discussed bullying issues facing Sikh children and called on the NJBOE to ensure "all school children in New Jersey… receive education on Sikhs."
Since then the Coalition has worked with a dedicated core of community activists in New Jersey to consistently raise the issue of education on Sikhs in New Jersey in over a dozen meetings with elected and government officials. These activists include but are not limited to Gurparkash Singh, Jasjit Singh, Sutinder Singh Dhanjal (member of the New Jersey Governor's Ethnic Advisory Commission), Harvinder Singh Wasson, and Rajdeep Kaur. In addition, scores of Sikhs from throughout New Jersey, and in particular the sangats of the Gurudwaras in Bridgewater and Lawrenceville, wrote letters to the Department of Education requesting that information on Sikhs be included in the curriculum. In total, community members wrote 245 individual letters to the Department requesting action.

The Additional Benefits for New Jersey School Children
During the course of activism on this issue, community activists and the Coalition were also able to secure additional benefits and protections for Sikh children in New Jersey.
In September 2006, before the start of the school year, Education Commissioner Lucille Davy issued a memorandum to every school principal in New Jersey requesting that they take measures to protect Sikh students from bias and harassment in schools.
In addition, New Jersey agreed to allow 8 Sikh religious days to be placed on the school calendar [www.nj.gov] giving Sikh students the option of taking those days off without being charged with an unexcused absence.
The Coalition would like to especially thank New Jersey Assembly Member Updendra Chivukula. Assemblyman Chivukula arranged for gatherings with New Jersey's Governor, Attorney General, and most importantly New Jersey's Education Commissioner that were instrumental to the success of this project. In addition, the Coalition would like to thank Hoboken Councilman Ravi Singh Bhalla. The Councilman worked with State Senator Brian Stack and Assembly Member Ruben Ramos to write letters to the Department of Education in support of including information on Sikhs in the curriculum.
Finally, the Sikh Coalition would like to thank the Department of Education Commissioner Lucille Davy. Commissioner Davy has always been a champion in ensuring that New Jersey school children have the knowledge necessary to be competitive in an increasingly global society. The Coalition thanks her for her leadership.

"We look forward to working with the Sikh community and other groups and organizations to develop meaningful and relevant standards and instructional materials that support and enhance the knowledge and skills required of all students in New Jersey's 2009 Core Curriculum Content Standards."

Janis Jensen, Director
Office of Academic Standards
New Jersey Department of Education

Bhai Jasjit Singh Ji I will try to sort something out with Guru Jis kirpa. In two weeks there is going to be a Youth Sikh Seminar, and Bhai Hardayal Singh from United Sikhs will be coming perhaps we will discuss this topic there and try to build some support. I remember a year ago they presented their case to the Educational Commission but I didnt get any feedback from this meeting.