Burnaby students may soon be able to take a deep dive into the Holocaust with a proposed new Grade 12 course.
The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of millions of Jewish people by the German Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945.
Holocaust Studies 12 would provide students with a "comprehensive picture" of that history and the time before and after for a better understanding of the "totality of the Jewish experience," according to a course proposal presented at the school board's Feb. 10 committee of the whole meeting.
The goals of the course would include promoting awareness and understanding of the roots and the current state of anti-semitism as a "rising and dangerous force in our community, country, and the world," according to the proposal.
In October 2023, in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel, B.C. Premier David Eby announced Holocaust education would become a mandatory part of the required Grade 10 social studies curriculum in the 2025-26 school year.
Holocaust Studies 12 would give students a chance to expand on the knowledge they will be getting in Social Studies 10 and other electives that already exist in the district, such as 20th Century World History 12 and Genocide 12, according to the proposal.
The new four-credit elective course, which would include 120 hours of instruction, is a so-called Board/Authority Authorized (BAA) course.
Such courses are developed by teachers (in this case by Alpha Secondary School social studies teacher Eyal Daniel) who want to explore content beyond the boundaries of the provincial curriculum, respond to local needs, or provide choice and flexibility for students.
BAA courses have to be approved by the school board prior to the school year in which they are offered, and they only go ahead if enough students register.
The committee received the proposal for information, but the course still needs to be approved by the board.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on X/Twitter @CorNaylor
Email [email protected]
