TORONTO: The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has resolved that month of November each year be declared as Hindu Heritage Month.
TDSB Trustees, in their April 18 meeting, passed a motion which included: “Hindu Heritage Month is an opportunity to celebrate and educate all our students and school communities about this ancient and spiritual way of life.”
The motion was moved before the Toronto District School Board by 36-year-old Parthi Kandavel, whose father is of Sri Lankan origin and mother is from India. He said he championed the motion because of a “desire.”
While November is already observed as Hindu heritage Month in the province of Ontario, that was “fairly symbolic”, he said, while a similar observance for schools would have “substance.”
While Hinduism is among the world’s oldest belief systems, the “unfortunate reality” is that many educationists were unaware of it, he said, and there were reports of “students being bullied for being Hindus.” The TDSB presides over a student population of nearly 240,000. The motion was co-sponsored by another trustee Avtar Minhas, who was gratified that it came as TDSB celebrated April as Sikh heritage month. “We want every child to grow in this city of Toronto the way their culture is, there traditions are,” he said, after the motion was passed in the presence of dozens of members from the Hindu community in the gallery observing the proceedings and cheering the outcome.
The motion also said: “Canadians of Hindu faith have greatly contributed to civic life in Canada for decades, and are a vibrant part of the growth and prosperity of Toronto, Ontario and Canada.”
“Hinduism (or Sanathana Dharma) encompasses a broad range of…contributions to learning through mathematics, astronomy and science, and well-being through health practices such as yoga, meditation and a vegetarian diet.
Kandavel said the next step after the passage of the motion will be interactions with community groups and throughout the school system so that a theme can be developed for November and also create lessons that can be used every year and activities based on the theme selected.
Meanwhile, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada commended TDSB for the declaration. and urged all school boards of Canada to do the same.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged TDSB also to declare Diwali, most popular Hindu festival, as an official holiday in view of presence of substantial number of Hindu students in the District.
Hinduism is oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents.