New York: The Iowa Board of Education has adopted new social studies standards that will include Sikhi as a part of their K-12 curriculum. Iowa will be the 21st state to add Sikhi into their standards. In fall 2025, the Sikh Coalition education team reached out to the Iowa Board of Education in order to leverage their social studies standards review as an opportunity to add Sikhi. “Our team met with the state’s social studies consultant to share the curriculum resources that we offer and explain how they could align well with Iowa’s new standards. We saw that the final version of the new standards include Sikhi in seventh grade modern world history. After engaging with the Iowa Department of Education, we are excited to see Iowa become the 21st state to include Sikhi in its social studies standards,” said Savleen Singh, Sikh Coalition Senior Education Manager. “At a time when Sikh students across the country continue to report bullying and misrepresentation in schools, this milestone sends a clear message that our identities and histories matter. While there is still important work ahead nationwide, ensuring that Sikhi is accurately taught in public schools is a critical proactive step towards fostering safer, and more inclusive classrooms for Sikh students as well as building broader long term understanding of the Sikh community amongst all in the classroom setting.”
