The textbook draft will be sent to the State Board of Education for approval later this year
Indian Americans in California gathered in front of California Department of Education (CDE) to protest against the misrepresentation of Hinduism and India in the schools’ textbook draft.
The gathering of Indian Americans at CDE aired their anguish towards the way textbook drafts portray Hinduism and India by using inaccurate facts and figures that disrespect a country and civilization which is considered the oldest.
The community became aware of the content when the draft of the textbooks published by 10 publishers was put up in the public domain last week for approve before being inducted into the curriculum.
According to the parents who gathered at the protest, the draft is a clear violation of the standards set by the law in California and the provisions laid down by the CDE for instructional material in public schools.
Many parents also complained that such inaccurate content in the textbooks has been causing problems for Hindu children in schools, as they are bullied and mocked in the classrooms.
“It is disappointing to see that even after a decade of building awareness by the Hindu-American community, textbooks, especially by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), McGraw-Hill, Discovery and National Geographic, continue to use orientalist narratives to portray Indian civilization,” Shantharam Nekkar, Director of Hindu Education Foundation USA (HEF), said in a press release.
“Some textbooks continue to depict Hinduism and ancient India using pictures such as cows eating trash, slums and poverty-stricken people,” he added.“Conflation of Hinduism and India with dirt, outdated customs, oppressive caste system, patriarchy, and other-worldliness has been a recurrent theme in California textbooks. The systemic bias only seems to reinforce itself each time.”
The dispute over the content in the social science textbook has been continuing since the education department announced revising of the framework. There was outcry after a few select groups and academicians tried to replace the word India with South Asia.
The last two years has seen the Department of Education making significant changes in the framework based on the inputs of scholars, students, and the community members. This has resulted in the addition of Hindu concepts like yoga and dharma, sages Vyasa and Valmiki, and achievements of Indians in science and technology into the framework. But according to Hindu groups, the changes pointed out have not reflected in the textbook’s draft.
“Some publishers continue to single out and denigrate Hinduism while ignoring new additions to the framework that can help present Indian civilization on par with other civilizations and cultures,” said Sharat Joshi, a parent from San Jose. “Negative portrayal of Hinduism has led to several instances of bullying of Hindu children in classrooms.”
The textbook draft will be sent to the State Board of Education for approval later this year for approval along with the recommendations of the Department of Education. The textbooks recommended by the board are expected to be adopted by school districts starting early next year.