Pursuant to efforts of the Sikh Coalition, the Oklahoma State Board of Education has recently voted to approve new social studies standards, which, for the first time ever, will include Sikhism.

With the express objective of increasing Sikh awareness among fellow Americans and with the targeted multi-year campaign to ensure that every public school student in the United States has a chance to learn about Sikhism, nearly 700,000 students in Oklahoma will get the opportunity to accurately learn about Sikhs and Sikhism.

“Oklahoma becomes the 9th in a growing list of states – including Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Texas, California, Tennessee, Idaho and Colorado – that have worked with the Sikh Coalition to include accurate information about Sikhs in their public school social studies standards. These efforts are now positively educating over 15 million public school students,” informed Pritpal Kaur of the Sikh Coalition.

“Our family has lived in Oklahoma for many years, and our youngest son is still studying in the public school system. These new standards will go a long way in ensuring all Sikh children feel represented and included in the classroom,” said Sikh community member Gurcharan Singh. “I am grateful the Sikh Coalition worked to ensure Sikhism is integrated into Oklahoma’s revised standards.”

Following the initial request in November 2018, the update to Oklahoma’s social studies standards resulted from months of advocacy behind the scenes by the Sikh Coalition.

The new, more inclusive standards will start to be implemented during the 2019-2020 school year. Review of instructional materials, development of curriculum frameworks and provision of professional development opportunities for teachers will occur during this time. The Sikh Coalition hopes that full implementation will happen by 2020-2021 school year.

Pritpal Kaur, the Sikh Coalition Education Director has said that “The accurate inclusion of Sikhism in more state standards across America is part of the Sikh Coalition’s efforts to ensure that all children feel represented, included and safe when they go to school,”