A recent survey collated by leading British Hindu and Indian communities have highlighted the diaspora’s concerns that Hinduism in the UK has not been taught in a “positive” light.
INSIGHT UK has collated a report on the state of Hinduism in Religious Education (RE) in UK schools and was supported by Hindu Council UK, Hindu Forum of Britain, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (UK), National Council of Hindu Temples UK and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (UK).
According to the survey, 97% of the respondents stated that it is important and paramount for their child to learn about Hinduism and while 98% of those respondents said that the study of Hinduism in RE is low quality and deficient. 75% of respondents feel that Hinduism is not taught in a positive light while 76% of primary school parents are unhappy about RE teachers’ knowledge of Hinduism. 81% of Key Stage 3 and 87% of Key Stage 4 parents are discontented about RE teachers’ knowledge of Hinduism amid growing evidence of inaccurate resources used by classroom teachers for teaching Hinduism. Hindu parents and pupils also felt that they did not have a choice to study Hinduism at GCSE level.
“So many things have come up from this research, it is important for us to recognise them and take it forward in terms of what can be done about this. Some very concerning factors are bullying, discrimination and underrepresentation is something we need to tackle,” noted Dr Ramesh Pattni OBE.
It is found that the lack of awareness and an incorrect portrayal of Hinduism in RE results in: Depriving students of a world view and understanding of the nature, diversity and impact of religion and belief in the contemporary world, depriving the knowledge of the world’s third-largest religion which is followed by one of the most contributing minority communities in the UK and insensitivity towards Hindu people and their beliefs resulting in bullying and hate crimes.
