Press Release
NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., October 4, 2004: On September 24-26, Educators’ Society for the Heritage of India (ESHI) held a professional conference on “Contemporary Conceptions of Studies on India in Academia” at Rutgers University, NJ. The event was cosponsored by the Hindu Students Council (HSC) and attended by educators, professors, scholars, teachers, school administrators and many Rutgers University students. “The knowledge about the heritage and culture of India in North America is not only limited, but mostly biased, negative, distorted and incorrect. During British rule, Indian history, culture and traditions: Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism were distorted by colonial prejudice. This distortion is being perpetuated in the Western education system. U.S. Academia and media stereo-type India in negative ways. Many U.S. school and college textbooks and resource material present caste system, untouchability, poverty, animal gods and cows as the core of India’s culture and tradition,” begins this release.
ESHI was formed to remedy this problem. Its mission is to function as a network and intellectual think tank of educators, scholars, students and academics to provide authoritative information and authentic resources related to India’s heritage, culture, history, and languages to elementary, middle and high school teachers, colleges, curriculum developers, education officials and policy makers: the media, textbook authors and publishers, inter-faith organizations, political leaders and the general public.
The objective of the conference was to bring together teachers, professors and students, who are interested in education about India, to share information on issues related to the education about India in schools and colleges. Professor T.S. Rukmani, Chair in Hindu Studies at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, delivered the keynote lecture. Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula and Prof. Anand Mohan were keynote speakers who shared their thoughts, ideas, and experiences based on their careers in the political and academic areas.