Indiana has became the 13th state in the country to include Sikhism in its social studies standards.
These standards, voted on by the Indiana Board of Education, help determine what public school students of all ages learn in schools throughout the state. Per Wednesday’s vote, Sikhism will now appear in five different places in the state standards.
The following quote is attributable to Dr. Pritpal Kaur, Sikh Coalition Education Director:
“We are very excited that more than one million public school students in Indiana will now have the opportunity to learn about Sikhism in a constitutionally appropriate manner. This is a major step forward for Sikh awareness, which in turn creates safer schools for our children; now, we look forward to continuing to provide students, parents, and teachers accurate information they can use in crafting their curricula.”
In advance of this vote, the Sikh Coalition sent two letters to the state Board of Education advocating for Sikhism’s inclusion: one with detailed information about where Sikhism fits into the standards’ structure, and another with signatures from eight gurdwara leadership committees in the Indiana sangat. You can view the second letter here.
In total, approximately 22,536,783 students across the country--or roughly 45 percent of public school students in the United States--now have the opportunity to learn about Sikhism through its inclusion in state standards and their associated academic materials.
The other states that have chosen to include Sikhism in their standards are New Jersey, Texas, New York, California, Idaho, Tennessee, Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, Michigan, North Dakota, and Nebraska.