Seventh-grade students in Tennessee would no longer spend as much time learning about the history of Islam by 2019 under a proposed draft revision being developed by state educators.
A section on Islam currently taught in social studies classes has been removed from the state Board of Education’s draft, which went online for public review.
Most of the sections involving Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions have remained in the draft in some form.
With the proposed deletion of the “Islamic World, 400 A.D./C.E. - 1500s” section, students would no longer be learning about the Quran or the differences between the Sunni and Shia branches of the religion.
An emailed statement sent via the State Board of Education emphasized that the draft revisions are part of an ongoing process of an educator task force in reviewing all K-12 social studies standards
“It’s still part of history,” Susan Lodal, the Kingsport Board of Education Vice President, said of Islam. “We’re just not teaching it to our children.”
The Department of Education is not involved with the new standards proposal and will not be involved until new standards are adopted, said spokeswoman Chandler Hopper. At that point, the department will put out guidance to school systems on the new standards, he said.
Any final revisions approved would be implemented in the 2019-20 school year, the paper said.
source : hawzahnews
