US STATE ALABAMA MAY LIFT BAN ON YOGA IN SCHOOLS — BUT ‘NAMASTE’ IS FORBIDDEN

Sun 14 March 2021:

US state of Alabama could soon lift a decades-old ban on yoga in public schools — but the use of chanting, mantras and teaching the word “namaste” would be forbidden, according to American media reports.

The state’s House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would allow primary and secondary school systems to decide whether to allow the practice, the reports said.

Yoga was forbidden by the Alabama Board of Education in 1993 after opposition by conservative groups over its Hindu roots.

Democratic Congressman Jeremy Gray, who sponsored the new legislation, said that some gym teachers had already been teaching yoga in class before they realized it was banned, and others wanted to offer it, particularly during virtual learning amid the pandemic.

In 2016, a Georgia school eliminated the word “namaste” from its yoga class and colouring pages with the symbol of the mandala, a geometric figure representing the universe in Hindu symbolism, to mollify parents offended by the non-Christian forms of expressions.

Groups who argued against the Alabama bill believe it violates the Establishment Clause and the separation of church and state.

Under the bill, the poses taught to students must have exclusively English names.
Students would also have the option to not participate and instead do a different activity, Gray said.

The bill will now move to the Alabama Senate for consideration.