Friends of South Asia View Textbook Edits Accepted as "Victory"

February 28, 2006

Source: FOSA Press Release

http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/FOSACACPressRelease_022806.html

On February 28, 2006 a Friends of South Asia Press Release reported, "The intense struggle over the content of Indian history in California textbooks ended yesterday afternoon at 2 p.m. with the special committee of the California State Board of Education [SBE] voting unanimously to overturn a majority of contentious changes proposed by Hindu right-wing groups to California school textbooks. This decision is a victory for community organizations such as Friends of South Asia (FOSA), the Ambedkar Center for Peace and Justice, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, and the Coalition Against Communalism (CAC), who have worked diligently to ensure that ahistorical and sectarian content proposed by Hindu right-wing groups is removed from California textbooks. Hundreds of South Asian scholars from across the United States and nearly fifty internationally renowned Indologists had repeatedly written to the Board as well, protesting the changes proposed by the Hindu nationalist groups... The SBE is slated to make its final decisions regarding textbook adoption on its meeting on March 8-10, 2006." For more on the textbook controversy from FOSA, visit http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/