Texas approves curriculum to allow Bible teaching in elementary schools

Latest update:November 23, 2024 01:50 PM EST

The lessons are not mandatory for schools and should be adopted as soon as next school year, and districts can receive at least $40 per student for using state-approved materials, local media reported, citing local legislation.

With the new curriculum, Texas will be the first state to introduce Bible classes in schools this way (File Photo)

The Board of Education of Texas, the second-largest state in the United States, on Friday approved a new curriculum that allows the Bible to be taught in the state’s elementary schools.

The lessons are not mandatory for schools and should be adopted as soon as next school year, and districts can receive at least $40 per student for using state-approved materials, local media reported, citing local legislation.

Advocates argued that the Bible is key to U.S. history and that teaching it would enrich student learning, while parents and teachers who opposed the curriculum said the lessons would alienate students of different faiths and potentially violate the First Amendment.

“The materials will also enable our students to better understand the connections of history, art, society, literature, and religion to key events such as the signing of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Movement, and the American Revolution,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott. , a staunch Republican, expressed his support in a statement in May.

With the new curriculum, Texas will become the first state to introduce Bible classes in schools in this way, Xinhua news agency reported, citing an AP report citing Matthew Patrick Shaw, an assistant professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University.

However, Texas is not alone. A number of Republican-controlled states, such as Oklahoma and Louisiana, have also supported efforts to enforce Christian school requirements, including the implementation of the Bible, Ten Commandments and other religious doctrines in public schools.

The Texas State Board of Education, made up of 11 Republicans and four Democrats, oversees more than five million students in public schools across the state.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency-IANS feed)