WASHINGTON D.C., US., May 20, 2016 (First Post): A California commission — mandated with recommendation and revision of school textbooks — has rejected demands of replacing India with South Asia for pre-1947 references, which had become a major bone of contention from various academic groups in the US.
The California Department of Education’s (CDE) Instructional Quality Commission (IQC), at its hearing on Thursday — which was marked by presence of a large number of parents and students from both sides — decided not to replace mentions of India with South Asia in the new framework for History Social Science textbooks in California. Over a hundred Indian-American children and parents testified at the public hearing at the CDE, opposing the proposal, and seeking restoration of the word India’.
Earlier this year, the Commission had proposed to replace instances of “India” by “South Asia” in its school textbooks at the behest of South Asia Faculty Group (SAFG), led by top academicians like professors Kamala Visweswaran of University of California at San Diego, Lawrence Cohen and Robert Goldman of University of California at Berkeley. The group had suggested that many mentions of “India” before 1947 had to be replaced with “South Asia.”
The suggestions were opposed by another group of 41 academics led by professors Barbara McGraw of Saint Mary’s College of California, and including Diana Eck of Harvard University who called the proposal “anachronistic” and “not historical.” “Hinduism should be represented in California K-12 textbooks in a manner comparable to other religions “fairly, accurately and equitably,” said McGraw.