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Plea for inclusion
of Sikhism's study in school curriculum
WSN Network
 CALIFORNIA:
A well known Sikh intellectual activist has argued for inclusion of
Sikhism in a book meant for California schools which does include
other major religions. He has also pleaded with fellow Sikhs and
community organisations to plead with the local schools in
Sikh-population rich areas to include the study of Sikhism in school
curriculum.
Dr. Onkar S Bindra's exertions are in view of the fact that the
History-Social Science (HSS) Framework for California's Public
Schools published in 2001 by the California Department of Education
(CDE), is to be updated by the year 2010.The revised document
will contain the course descriptions and content standards that
provide guidance to teachers on what to cover in each Grade Level
(K-12) and provide guidelines to publishers on what to include in
the textbooks that they will submit in 2010-11, to the State Board
of Education (SBE) for adoption for California's public schools for
the following six years..
"Most books adopted in
California are
adopted in many other States. Thus, the Framework is an extremely
important document. It is, therefore, essential to vigilant and
guard community and public interest during its updating process," Dr
Bindra said in a statement.
The HSS Subject Matter Committee of the Curriculum Development and
Supplemental Materials Commission held its first meeting at
Sacramento
on September 27, to plan for the updating of the Framework. Dr.
Onkar S. Bindra spoke during the Public Comments session. He
requested for inclusion of Sikhism in the course description of the
elective, Survey of World Religions, on page 121 of the current
Framework. Presently, it includes Judaism, Christianity, Islam,
Buddhism and Hinduism. A couple of School Districts have decided to
teach Sikhism in this course.
School District
with dense Sikh population may agree to do the same, should the Sikh
community plead for the same.
Further, Dr Bindra requested inclusion of India in the 7th grade -
history of medieval and early modern period. He added that if this
was not possible, Growth of
Islam in India, already a part of the course
description and content standards should cover the following:
founding of Sikh religion by Guru Nanak (1469-1539), imprisonment of
Guru Nanak by Babar and of the 6th Guru by Aurangzeb, Guru Arjan's
torture to death in keeping with Jehangir's desire and beheading of
the 9th Guru under Aurangzeb's orders, institution of the
Khalsa and of the
Guru Granth Sahib as
the eternal the 10th Guru, rise of the Sikh power under
Maharaja Ranjit Singh and decline of the
Mughal Empire.
(Readers desires of
contacting Dr Onkar S Bindra may reach him at
osbindra@yahoo.com)
3
October, 2007
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