By Jay Dilip Lakhani
We had a meeting on the September 23, with the head of religious education at the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA ? the regulatory body) and the chief officer-in-charge of religious education at the Department of Education and Skills (Dfes), at the QCA offices. The Hindu Council (UK) was represented by Anil Bhanot and Jay Dilip Lakhani. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the new national framework for consultation document on religious education and the importance of Hindu contribution in the formulation of the final version. The final version will be published in the autumn term. The key ideas we had offered through our earlier response (the document can be viewed at the Hindu Council website) are in line with the thinking promoted by both these departments. The key features of Hinduism we had promoted in the earlier document were:
- Divinity of mankind (spiritual humanism).
- Religious pluralism (the way for many world religions to co-exist).
- Developing links between religions, science and art.
- Experiential religion (religion as a matter of first-hand experience).
- Contemporary Hinduism.
Additionally we touched on the Hindu concern that Hindi is not given a full examination status at GCSE levels. Both the QCA and the Dfes were not aware of this and it was decided to follow this up later. (Executive, Chair of Education, Hindu Council, UK; www.hinducounciluk.org)
