Social media bashes text’s holiday omission

The book, Social Studies Made Simple (Infant I) written by Vidya Maharaj and published by Maharaj Publishers, is intended to be used by students entering the primary school system in the new school year which begins in September.

Speaking with Newsday, Veer Maharaj, editor and son of the author, stated that the omission was an unintentional mistake.

“All other books in our series include those holidays. This was the first edition of this book and the information on these holidays will be included in future editions.” Director of the Black Agenda Project, David Muhammad, countered that such an oversight is unacceptable.

“Especially since our nation is the most diverse in the Caribbean, there must be consideration and awareness for every heritage, identity, and ethnicity. Therefore, any oversight would immediately disqualify the relevance of any such text.” Sat Maharaj, secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, also rejected the exclusion. “I find it very strange that we are being erased from the history of our country,” he said. Maharaj also added that the Ministry of Education must reconsider its choice of textbooks to be used by our nation’s children.

“What is included and excluded in that textbook should worry us,” said Khafra Cambon, chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee.

He also hopes that the conversations generated around this issue would serve to sensitise the public to the serious need for review of the current procedures.