SAI connects with communities outside of Harvard interested in South Asian culture and studies. Community organizations inform current areas of interest and help identify need for further scholarship on issues relevant to the region.
Educators for Teaching India (EFTI): Established in 2008, Educators for Teaching India (EFTI) is a group of secondary school educators dedicated to deepening our own knowledge of India and to exploring India’s role in school curricula. The organization includes teachers in public and private schools as well as educators in supporting academic institutions.
EFTI’s purpose is to enhance the role that India plays in curriculum through outreach and education. The first major event was a 2008 conference, “Why Teach India? Exploring India’s Role in Secondary Curricula,” with keynote speaker Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paolo Lemann Professor, HBS which took place on April 3, 2009. The 2nd annual conference, “Why Teach India? Caste and its Controversies,” featured keynote speaker Mridu Rai from Yale University, and held on April 30, 2009 at the South Asia Initiative at Harvard University.
EFTI is comprised of educators from Winsor School, Phillips Academy Andover, The Groton School, St. George’s School, Peddie School, Newton South High School, Ashoka Youth Venture pro tem Mumbai, and Niswarth Summer service-learning program. SAI staff meet regularly with the EFTI group to organize the annual conference.
Educators meet at the 2011 EFTI Conference hosted by SAI.
The South Asia Institute awarded Primary Source a grant of $7,500 in 2012 to support their commitment to resource building for K-12 educators in the areas of South Asia.
Primary Source 2013 Grant Report to SAI
Primary Source initiated a number of South Asia projects in 2012-2013, several of which were made possible by funding from the South Asia Institute at Harvard University. The 2012—2013 grant helped support a one-day workshop on Indian film, a webinar on relations between India and Pakistan, a scholar-facilitated book group discussion of an Indian mystery novel, and the purchase of new print and film resources for our library. In addition, the grant will also fund an April 9, 2013, webinar featuring Primary Source’s online resources for teaching about India and South Asia. As in past years, funding from the South Asia Institute has been instrumental in making these programs a success, and we are confident that many of the resources and partnerships developed during this grant cycle will be sustained well beyond the life of the grant.
More information on projects funded by SAI:
Indian Films as a Lens on Indian Society
After the Partition: India-Pakistan Relations Today
Teaching India: Literature and Online Resources for the Secondary Classroom
South Asia Book Group Discussion & Library Resources
This year’s grant from the South Asia Institute has helped Primary Source strengthen its regional and national reputation as a resource for educators seeking high-quality professional development programs and global resources on South Asia. Our curriculum and resource guides are freely available to educators in the U.S. and abroad, growing our audience and ensuring the long-term impact of the work that we do. Primary Source will continue to promote our online resources at a number of regional and national conferences in the coming year, and we will highlight our latest South Asia activities in our biweekly “Teachers Digest” publication, which currently reaches 1,597 educators. As a result, the work that we have done this year will sustain itself and serve as an important part of our work with K-12 teachers. We thank the South Asia Institute for its invaluable support, and we look forward to working together in the future to bring the histories and cultures of South Asia to students and teachers across the country and world.
Scholar Harleen Singh leads a discussion on
films as literary texts as part of Primary Source’s workshop on Indian Films