Washington: Education board in California in the US has approved a new school curriculum framework which will include richer content on ancient India and Hinduism for the first time and remove text inaccurately depicting Islam.
The framework, which will update and upgrade history and social science instruction in California, was developed over a period of last two years went through several rounds of public hearings and saw many controversies including the push by a group of top academics to rename ancient India with South Asia.
Much to the disappointment of a section of academicians, the board decided in favour of India. “While much needs to be done to bring content on Hinduism and Indian civilisation on par with other religions and civilisations, we believe that great progress has been made in the last two years,” said Sandeep Dedage, director, Hindu Education Foundation USA, expressing satisfaction over the completion of the process.
The framework now has mention of Vedic sages, Hindu teachings and philosophy, bhakti saints, music, dance, art and scientific contributions of India. Ahead of the final hearing, Congressman TulsiGabbard and California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom batted for their causes. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in a separate statement said the new framework will improve the teaching and learning of history and social science.
