Since February of 2020, the Sikh Society of Minnesota and the Sikh Coalition have been working together to ensure that Sikhi is included in the state’s next K-12 Social Studies Standards and Benchmarks. This document determines what children learn in Minnesota’s public schools.
The third draft of the Standards and Benchmarks was released earlier this week.
Sikhi is now included in the middle school section, but we are still missing from the high school section. The Sikh Society of Minnesota and the Sikh Coalition intend to push for Sikh inclusion in the high school section and are also working with interfaith groups to urge the Minnesota Department of Education to put in a benchmark that has students examine religion as a contemporary part of identity rather than just a series of historical events.
Raising our voice is working, but we still have a little more work to do to ensure that we aren’t silenced in this final stage. We are engaging with the MDE now, but we need the sangat’s help:
Click here to submit one more public comment urging the MDE to finish the job and fully include Sikhs! The MDE has told us directly that public comments are the most important factor to continuing to improve the Standards and Benchmarks.
When you’re done, please encourage your family and friends in Minnesota to send in their public comment. As a reminder, individuals from the same family can all submit public comments to increase the total number of submissions.
