23rd December 2022 is in historic day for the Sikh Community in the United States of America, as 24 million students can now learn about Sikhism or Sikh faith, in their school curriculum for the first time ever.
In spite of Sikhism being the fifth largest religion in the world and the Sikh community has contributed immensely to American society in the fields of civil rights, politics, agriculture, engineering, and medicine, their social and historical contributions are largely absent from the state educational standards.
“These new standards provide our growing Sikh community in Mississippi with an opportunity to educate our neighbours about the Sikh faith and better protect and recognise Sikh students in the state,” said Sikh community member Amrik Singh of Jackson.
“Inclusive and accurate standards are an important first step to combat bigotry and to reduce bullying, and they benefit all students by increasing baseline cultural competency and decreasing ignorance,” Harman Singh, Sikh Coalition Senior Education Manager, said in a statement.