Press Release | November 25, 2024 | Subscribe  

ASC reps attend the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) Convention, Boston, MA Nov 22 – 23, 2024.

Kanwaljit Singh and Kamal Kaur with attendees.

 American Sikh Council (ASC) representatives and Dr. Manveen Kaur, Devender Kaur, Amandeep Singh, Kamal Kaur, Kanwaljit Singh, Kaviraj and Kavneet Singh organized and set up a Sikh exhibit at the National Council for Social Studies (Teachers) Convention (NCSS) which was held for two full days, from November 22 – 23, 2024. Over 4,700 teachers, specialists, experts, educators, professors, from the middle school, high school and beyond attended this conference. There were over 150 exhibitors and hundreds of educational sessions covering, social studies, history, gender studies, bullying, racism, bias, social justice, genocide studies and much more.

 ASC representatives interacted with the convention attendees by having conversations and answering many interesting questions posed by the teachers and educators. Several brochures covering The Sikh Turban, the Sustained Sikh Genocide, Sikhs and Scouts, History of Sikh Americans, Bullying of Sikh American Children; books like, Sikh Gadhar Lehar 1907-1918, Another Aspect of the Gadar Movement – The Struggle for American Citizenship and Property Rights, and The Clash of Cultures, were displayed and distributed.

Devender Kaur and Kavneet Singh with an educator at the ASC exhibit.

 Academic books about the Sikh American pioneers and their fight for citizenship and property rights were displayed as teacher resource material.  The other ASC supported book written by Karanveer Singh which was well publicized at the convention was the ‘Bullying of Sikh American Children – Through the Eyes of a Sikh American High School Student’, www.bullyingasikhamericanchildren.org since this book has even been attested by President Barack Obama in 2016 and was awarded the, National Bullying Prevention Award by the School Safety Council in 2018.. This book is in over forty school districts across the Eastern seaboard and being used of AP Phycology, AP History and AP English in many high schools.

 The four sets of the Sikh Religious Awards Workbooks approved by the Boy Scouts of America (Scouts – BSA) were all made available electronically for free dissemination as a teacher resource material from grades 1 – 12.  http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Membership/Charter_Orgs/Religious.aspx  www.sikhscouts.net

Kamal Kaur with an educator at the conference.

We were complimented by so many teachers about the way ASC held the exhibit that we had dozens of requests to do presentations and hold exhibits across the nation. Ms. Renne H stated, “You not only have the most engaging exhibit, but I have learnt more in the short time I have spent with you than I did from so many other resources.”

Many education officials stopped by at the exhibit specifically stating that the informational material of the past couple years provided by ASC has helped in multiple ways to increase the awareness of the school children thereby slowly reducing ignorance and bullying of Sikh American children.

Some of the teachers who attended the Gurdwara Tour at the Everett Gurdwara

Kavneet Singh, with the gracious help of  Sarbjit Kaur, Dalbir Singh, Ravneet Kaur and other wonderful volunteers helped organize the Gurdwara Tour and reception at the Boston Sikh Sangat Gurdwara, Everett, MA on Thursday, November 21, 2024 from 6 – 9 pm.

Social teachers came to observe and learn about how Sikhs use the Gurdwara for their community’s spiritual and other needs. The teachers observed the regular services held in the diwan, while learning from the presentations and discussion about the Sikh heritage.

The teachers were really appreciative of the in-depth understanding of many of the parts of the Sikh heritage which they were completely unaware.

A seasoned academic commented, “It is a travesty that Sikhs are reluctant to teach their children and the rest of the world about the Sustained Sikh Genocide 1984-1998, because there is not a single child in America who does not know about the horror of the Holocaust.”

The networking and the outcome of ASC’s collective work was a great success, and in order to sustain this ongoing effort ASC requests all the gurdwaras but especially member gurdwaras to continue their support of these educational initiatives for the sake of all our children.