Social activist Bishnu Maya Pariyar, featured in school curriculum in the USA

KATHMANDU, AUGUST 1: A year after famous Nepali-American social activist Bishnu Maya Pariyar’s story was featured in a textbook for universities worldwide, she has been featured in the government school curriculum of Massachusetts in the USA.

The government school curriculum for grade 7 in Massachusetts, approved by the state’s Department of Education,  incorporates a chapter about Dr Pariyar under the subject of World History and Geography. Pariyar currently resides in the US. 

According to Khasokhas. com–an online portal focused on the Nepali community in the US, the chapter assisted by video contents and slides includes eight slide shows introducing award-winning personality Dr Pariyar and about caste-based discrimination and untouchability in Nepal. It also incorporates a documentary ‘untouchable’ surrounding the life struggle of Dr Pariyar. 

This lesson is available in all public schools in Massachusetts and will be implemented in many schools in the USA next year. The chapter aims to eliminate inequality and number 10 of the United Nations Development Goals. 

At the beginning of the lesson, after explaining the inequality through a video and quoting the famous American civil rights activist Rosa Parks, a video will be shown about Pariyar.

The text covers caste discrimination and inequality in Nepal; the EDWON, an organization established by Pariyar, is working to address the problems created by the caste system. In the less than 20-minute video lesson, Dr. Pariyar will be taught; the video tries to connect the caste system of Nepal to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“At a time when Nepal has yet to include the issue of caste-based discrimination in the school curriculum this is a historical development,” said Rem Bishworkarma, a rights activist and a journalist. 

Born on December 19, 1973 in Taklung, a village in Gorkha district of Nepal, Pariyar’s life struggle was published in a textbook which is studied worldwide. 

Dr. Lisa Wright Hoeffner authored the textbook ‘The Writer’s Mindset’ which is widely read by Universities and High-School students has included her story published by a renowned American publication McGraw Hill. 

Scholars say the inclusion of Pariyar’s story in the 692-paged book was the first of its kind in history.

Dr. Pariyar is an award-winning scholar, prolific social entrepreneur, and one of the most admired personalities in Nepali community abroad.