
The New Jersey Council for the Social Studies held its annual conference at Rutgers University on October 27, 2011. The conference is meant to give teachers new resources, support, and advice on how to teach new concepts to their classes. This year, the Sikh Coalition was invited to present on a panel entitled, "Teaching About World Religions in New Jersey." The panel also included Hindu and Muslim representatives. Savraj Singh Dhanjal, a
Sikh Presenter's Course graduate, spoke about the importance of teaching Sikhism in the classroom, as per the new
Social Studies Content Standards that now include Sikhism. He distributed a packet of information to the educators, which included lesson plans, information on teaching Sikhism, and other educator resources. Savraj also spoke about how Sikh students are more susceptible to bias-based bullying because of their visible external identity.
Arlene Gardner, the Executive Director for the New Jersey Center for Civic Education said,
"Thanks so much for presenting such a fantastic workshop at the NJCSS annual fall conference. The workshop was well attended and well received." Teachers commented that it was a much-needed topic and was very informative. The Coalition would like to thank both Arlene Gardner and Savraj Singh Dhanjal for organizing and delivering this presentation.