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FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA, March 17, 2005: Several social studies textbooks up for adoption by the Fairfax County Public Schools system (FCPS) are being criticized by the Indian community because of the way the books portray the Hindu religion and Indian culture as a whole. The school board is set to adopt the eight textbooks at their March 31 meeting. School officials are recommending the board approve the books, but are suggesting they also approve supplemental material about Hinduism and India. Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion with an estimated 762 million followers worldwide and nearly 80,000 members in the United States. It is the dominant religion in India, Nepal and portions of Sri Lanka.



The textbooks oversimplify Hinduism, treating the religion as exotic and approaching it from an anthropological perspective, according to a committee of college professors asked by FCPS to review the textbooks. “They believe the religion and Indian culture itself were not treated in these textbooks as we’d like them to,” said Ann Monday, assistant superintendent for instructional services. Yet despite the scholarly committee’s qualms, they advised the school system to move forward with adopting the textbooks. Monday said the school system has asked the textbook publishers to revise the sections on Hinduism and India, but the publishers disagree major changes are needed. “They don’t agree with making the sweeping changes that have been recommended,” she said. “But we can convey what we’d like to with supplemental materials.” Reston parent Rakesh Bahadur, in a letter to the school board, said the textbooks discriminate against his family’s culture and are factually incorrect. “Moving ahead with the planned [textbook] adoption would erode the credibility of the process and the responsibility entrusted to FCPS by the community,” he wrote. In an interview, Bahadur said he was disappointed to see that so little of the textbooks’ space was devoted to Hinduism and that what little information was included was inadequate.

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