RALEIGH, N.C.  – House members have endorsed teaching North Carolina public school students about how thousands of people were sterilized through a state program in the mid-20th century.

The House Education Committee approved legislation Tuesday that would order the eugenics program be included in the public school curriculum. The bill also direct students and professors at University of North Carolina campuses to interview program victims so future generations know what happened.

About one-third of the 7,600 people sterilized by choice or coercion are still alive. The program ended in the 1970s. Then-Gov. Mike Easley apologized in 2002 for what happened.

The bill now goes to another committee.

It’s unclear if a separate effort to pay survivors will wind up in the state budget.