Sikh Coalition and Jakara Movement poster for campaign #StopIgnoringSikhs.
The Sikh Coalition and the Jakara Movement launched
Sept.1, 2020, a campaign to demand California state educational authorities to include the Sikh community in their Ethnic
Studies Model Curriculum conversation.
Titled StopIgnoringSikhs, the campaign claims the most
recent draft of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum has no meaningful or
positive inclusion of the Sikh community with stories about Sikhs.
The campaign began with written petitions from 52
gurdwaras and more than 1,200 signatories. The Sikh Coalition, in a press
release, claims the state educational officials public gathering August 13, did not give all 25 California Sikhs a chance to present their testimony
on this.
“The most recent draft of the Model Curriculum has stripped out or diluted specific mentions of many different underrepresented communities, including Sikhs; this will, in turn, force individual teachers to pick and choose which groups they teach about in their classrooms, and make it extremely unlikely that any teacher will include a lesson plan about Sikhs. This is unacceptable,” Sikh Coalition Education Director Pritpal Kaur is quoted saying in a press release.
Jakara Movement Executive Director Naindeep Singh said,
“Despite us providing detailed examples, recommendations, and extensive
community outreach, the Model Curriculum renders hardly a mention of the Sikhs,
who have continually shaped California’s history for over 125 years.”
There are believed to be between 500,000 and 700,000
Sikhs in the United States, roughly half of them in the Central Valley of
California.
The StopIgnoringSikhs campaign plans to begin an email
and phone call campaign directed at the California Department of Education and
Instructional Quality Commission during the public comment period.
https://www.newsindiatimes.com/california-sikh-sangat-begins-a-campaign-for-inclusion-in-school-curriculums/
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