New Social Studies Standards in Connecticut will Include Sikhism

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: media@sikhcoalition.org 

 

New Social Studies Standards in Connecticut will Include Sikhism

 

October 5, 2023 (Hartford, CT) – This week, the Connecticut State Board of Education voted in favor of new social studies standards, which will include Sikhism for the first time ever. These new standards will give approximately 514,000 students in Connecticut the opportunity to learn about the Sikh community, and represent yet another victory in the years-long, nationwide effort to push for Sikh inclusion in state standards. 

“These new standards will provide students the opportunity to learn about the Sikh community at all three levels of their education,” said Norwich City Councilman and sangat member Swaranjit Singh of Norwich, CT. “Classroom instruction about Sikh history and contributions from an early age are critical in creating a safe environment for our students.”

Since September 2022, the Sikh Coalition and the Sikh community in Connecticut have worked together in order to achieve this outcome. The Sikh Coalition first reached out to the Connecticut State Department of Education (DOE) in September of 2022 outlining how and why Sikhi should be included in the standards; we ultimately served as an expert reviewer throughout the standards revision process, and facilitated a sign-on letter with the Sikh Art Gallery to the DOE arguing on behalf of Sikh inclusion. 

Local adoption and implementation of the new standards will begin in the coming years. The Sikh Coalition will continue to work closely with the Connecticut Department of Education during this process to ensure that Sikhi successfully makes it into classrooms across the state. 

Connecticut is now the 18th in a growing list of states that have worked with the Sikh Coalition to include accurate information about Sikhs in their public school social studies standards. In June 2023, Washington, D.C. became the most recent region to ensure inclusion of Sikhism.  These efforts mean that more than 25 million students from coast to coast have the possibility of a more inclusive and holistic education.

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For more than 20 years, the Sikh Coalition has fought for the civil rights of Sikh Americans--including efforts to create safer and more inclusive classrooms for Sikh students nationwide. For more information about our work to ensure that Sikhism is accurately taught in Connecticut’s state standards or to interview Sikh community members in Connecticut please contact media@sikhcoalition.org.