Local adoption and exploration of the new standards will begin after the Virginia Department of Education develops curriculum frameworks in May 2023, and implementation will take place in August 2025.
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Virginia
The Virginia State Board of Education voted in favor of new History and Social Science Standards of Learning, which for the first time ever includes Sikhism, according to the Sikh Coalition. With this, Virginia has become the 17th state in a growing list of American states who have included accurate information about Sikhs in their public school social studies standards.
The new standards will give more than a million students in Virginia the opportunity to learn about the Sikh community, the Sikh advocacy organization said.
“After more than two years of engagement alongside the local sangat, this change will help to ensure that Sikhi can be taught in classrooms across the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said Harman Singh, Sikh Coalition Senior Education Manager.
The Sikh Coalition said it will continue to work closely with the Virginia Department of Education during this process, as well as with students, parents, and teachers throughout the commonwealth. Since March 2021, the Sikh Coalition and Virginia Sikh community have worked together in order to achieve this outcome, it said.
Local adoption and exploration of the new standards will begin after the Virginia Department of Education develops curriculum frameworks in May 2023, and implementation will take place in August 2025.
The Sikh Coalition is a US-based organization that has been working to include information about Sikhism, Sikh practices, and traditions in schools since March 2021.
