TOI correspondent from US: The state of Alabama approved new social studies standards last week, which will include Sikhi for the first time ever in the K-12 school curriculum. Since November 2023, the Sikh Coalition, an organisation that has worked for civil rights of Sikh Americans for over two decades; the Alabama Department of Education (ADE); and the Alabama Sikh community had worked together to achieve this outcome. Alabama is the 20th US state to include Sikh studies in the school curriculum.
“The Sikh Coalition worked with the sangat, or community, and all three gurdwaras in Alabama to engage in dialogue with the Alabama Department of Education and the Social Studies Standards Review Committee. This included submitting letters advocating for the inclusion of Sikhi, sending a recorded Sikh awareness presentation, and facilitating a letter of support from the gurdwaras highlighting the importance of this inclusion for Sikh community members,” Rucha Kaur, Sikh Coalition managing director of education and community development, told the Times of India. She added that the efforts were to promote awareness about Sikhs and prevent bullying in US public schools as well as to build resilience and pride among Sikh American youth.
In April 2023, the Sikh Coalition published: ‘where are you really from: a national Sikh school climate report’, a survey-based study of Sikh students’ experiences with bullying and other aspects of school life across the United States. The survey found that 78% of Sikh youth reported experiencing behaviour defined as bullying, 1 in 10 young Sikhs reported being bullied by teachers or staff, and more violent physical bullying was reported by young Sikh men who wear turbans or patkas as articles of faith. The report also found a correlation between less inclusive schools and more bullying incidents, as well as a relationship between bullying and poorer mental health outcomes.
“Our findings confirmed that a fundamental step to countering and preventing the problem of bias-based bullying is inclusive education. Now that we have data to support these experiences, we can now continue to align resources to pursue this endeavour. And because of the Sikh Coalition’s efforts to ensure Sikh inclusion in state social studies standards across the country, more than 26 million students from coast to coast have the possibility of a more inclusive and holistic education. We look forward to adding even more states to this list in the months and years ahead through continued advocacy alongside sangats,” Kaur said.
Additionally, the Sikh Coalition also supports inclusive education beyond state standards advocacy including producing and sharing new lesson plans, training teachers and administrators, giving Sikh awareness presentations in schools, elevating Sikh authors, fighting for the right of other communities to be accurately represented in educational materials and presenting at academic conferences.
“The new standards will ensure that Sikh students in Alabama see their community and history reflected in their classrooms,” said Savleen Singh, Sikh Coalition senior education manager.
In Alabama, Sikhi will now be included alongside other religions in the state’s standards for Grade 8 world history & geography and Grades 9-12 human geography. Local adoption and implementation of these standards will begin in the 2026-2027 school year.
“The Sikh Coalition continues to partner with school officials and sangat members across the US in different states to ensure that Sikhs are integrated into state social studies standards and their associated materials. To accomplish this goal, we are always building relationships with state departments of education and mobilising sangats to participate in these conversations,” Kaur said.
