Hindu organisation flays US court's decision on textbooks

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http://us.rediff. com/news/ 2006/sep/ 05hindu.htm

 

*Hindu organisation flays US court's decision on textbooks*

 

**September 05, 2006 21:32 IST

 

A US court has upheld a Hindu organisation' s contention that the

process of

adopting textbooks containing flawed presentation of Hinduism

was "illegal",

but refused to "toss" them out of schools saying it would be "disruptive"

for students.

 

The Hindu American Foundation had brought the lawsuit on behalf of

Hindu

parents from California against the State Board of Education arguing that

the procedure through which SBE reviewed and approved revisions in

sixth

grade textbooks, especially as to the presentation of Hinduism, was not

conducted under regulations required under the state Administrative

Procedures Act.

 

"As a result, HAF held, anti-Hindu academics were illegally allowed to

bias

the process against Hindu parents and students in California resulting in

textbooks that presented the debunked Aryan migration theory as fact,

misrepresented caste as central to Hinduism and left the impression that

Hinduism devalued the role of women," HAF said in a release.

 

California Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette last week ruled the

textbook adoption process was "flawed" and "illegal", but withheld an

opinion on the violation of the open meeting act, deciding that since the

entire process was already "invalid" a specific ruling would be redundant.

 

Marlette also ruled that the "relief" claimed by the HAF would be

disruptive

not only to those affected sixth graders, but potentially every California

public school student using any and every textbook adopted under the

SBE's

unlawful policies.

 

"The court, therefore, determines that respondent (SBE) should be

permitted

a reasonable opportunity to correct the deficiencies in its regulatory

framework governing the textbook approval process while maintaining the

current system in the interim," the judge said.

 

Reacting to the ruling, HAF said, "It would seem logical that if the

process

was illegal, then the resulting textbooks must be tossed out and the

adoption process repeated."

 

"Apparently, Judge Marlette is reluctant to reject possibly millions of

books, in addition to those in this case covering sixth grade Social

Studies

that could be implicated and allowed them to stand for now, that is very

disappointing, " HAF said.

 

It also said that its attorneys are considering options for appeal to force

revisions to the Hinduism sections in the contested textbooks.