Educators for Teaching India presented "Why Teach India? Incorporating India into Secondary Curricula" on April 3rd, 2009 at the South Asia Institute at Harvard University. Over 90 educators from across the country attended this first of its kind conference focused on India for public and private high schools.  Participants came from California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Washington DC and all over New England.  Teachers from the following Massachusetts public school districts also attended:  Acton, Belmont, Burlington, Hingham, Lexington, Newton North, Newton South, Quincy, Shrewsbury and Wayland.

After an informative and inspiring keynote address by Tarun Khanna, professor at Harvard Business School, participants attended workshops given by scholars of India and by teachers who successfully incorporate India into their curricula. Workshops focused on topics in the arts, literature, history, religion/philosophy, economics and service-learning.   In these workshops, participants discussed the challenges of presenting the complexity and diversity of India in a high school classroom.

Raj Mundra, founder of Educators for Teaching India and teacher at Phillips Academy, noted, “This conference was an opportunity for teachers to learn more about India in their disciplines, network with others who are interested in India, and discuss how Educators for Teaching India can support their work in the future.  There is an urgency and need for teaching India’s complexities with sensitivity across disciplines in public and private schools.  We hope to launch a national network of teachers who want to incorporate India into their classrooms.  This upcoming year our focus will be curriculum development and to provide quality resources for teachers.”

This conference was sponsored by Phillips Academy and The Winsor School and hosted by the South Asia Initiative at Harvard.

Educators for Teaching India, founded in 2008 and based in Boston, is an organization that seeks to create dialogue about and enhance the teaching of India in public and private schools.  The organization believes that curricular and pedagogical innovation are at the heart of presenting India’s complexity to students with accuracy and nuance.  For more information about Educators for Teaching India, please visit their website:  www.teachingindia.org

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