Whilst celebrating the Day of Children, we bring to you the warmest of the greetings for this Season, hand-crafted by young kids from village Gomti, which will surely take you back to your days of childhood.

There is certainly no better expression of joy and way of conveying heart-warming wishes than a personally designed and hand crafted greeting card. Primary students of Akal Academy Gomti had sent us their wishes for the on-going season alongside a special photograph – wishing and offering the Greetings to the audience.

Here’s sharing those special innocent wishes and greetings with all of you; beautiful supporters of Baru Sahib.

The bouquet of greetings and wishes ranges from Diwali, Gur-Purav, Christmas & even New Year.  The children especially designed these beautifully hand-made greeting cards during a recent Greeting Card Making workshop; the students were told that best of their cards and greetings will be presented through to all of us staff members and our supporters through our official website and Facebook Fan page, you can clearly notice their exclusive innocent enthusiasm as they lined up for the picture.

No amount of happiness of this world matches up with seeing these little kids smile. Our team on behalf of these children and staff members of All Academies, wish you a pleasant festive season.

~ Ramandeep Singh
~  New Delhi, 15th Nov ’13

Donate here to appreciate the talent here – http://barusahib.org/donate/

Integrating latest teaching technologies that ensure enhanced interactivity, with effective, impactful learning and understanding amongst students, All Akal Academy classrooms have been turning into SMART E-Classroom, which make use of Interactive Board, Projector and Custom developed Digital content that is based on academic syllabus as per CBSE, making the class environment more interesting, motivating, encouraging and more absorptive for students.

Providing value-based quality oriented schooling to rural children of India remains the prime objective of the Akal Academies. Hence, upon understanding the subtle nature of village environment, especially the psychology of the rural kids and their non-generic learning interests, our organization- The Kalgidhar Trust, based on an in-depth research over years of on-field experience of working at grass root levels in the villages, identified that it requires a lot more than just good teachers.

For kids, where odds against schooling can arising out of number of diverse reasons, with most critical and subtle being lack of motivation, lack of interest in studies and attending school, etc which may carry several different reasons like – certain kids’ inability to understand teachers’ due to language/accent or other regional differences in speech, weak reading ability (esp. in case of new admissions), weak academic background, etc; the need to bring innovations & reforms in teaching techniques was not only crucial, but perhaps a very critical need of the situation in the villages.

Hence, in a record making transition, that has never been introduced or applied in village schools before, Akal Academies placed India’s biggest ever order of 1500+ SMART E-Classroom Interactive Systems with EDUCOMP INDIA, a world renowned pioneer in providing interactive and digital solutions for classroom teaching.

The solution has already been successfully implemented in most of the 129 Akal Academies which are operational, as a result of which, not only did the rate of absenteeism decreased substantially, but it has also helped bringing rural children to schools – the kids and the parents were observed being more enthusiastic about schooling, esp. kids who now know about schools as a place of learning with fun over the big screens where their favorite cartoon characters do the story-telling whilst teaching them alongside.

We understand the need of the hour, do you? Donate here for the Noble cause or Rural Transformation – http://www.barusahib.org/donate

– Ramandeep Singh
– New Delhi, 13th Nov ’13

Keeping alive the spirit of the on-going festive season that has just kicked off with Diwali last weekend, the village students of Akal Academy, Ratia are keeping the campus and the village abuzz with their enthusiastic spirit and some really exotic creative work activities to welcome with full gusto, the upcoming-lined-up festivals and GurPurab, Christmas & New Year events.

Past week, starting-off with Diwali itself, has been full of interesting activities including best of arts – be it Rangoli, in which girls from the school made a beautifully designed Peacock that stole everyone’s heart; or creating fancy Diyas that infused the spark of celebrations into the campus.

Besides ‘Rangoli’, it was the Notice Board Decoration that grabbed everyone’s attention. To make things more interesting, fun-filling and to add-on to the excitement of the students, the Academy organized a series of competitions – the teams, divided into houses & categorized into different class-based level groups’ i.e.  1^st Class III-V,  2^ndClass VI-VII,  3^rd Class VIII-X, for competition events like Poetry, Creating Socially Useful & Productive Work from Waste Material, Diya Decoration, Notice Board Decoration, Greeting Card Making and Rangoli Making.

Different themes were allotted to each group – Level 1: Diwali, Level 2: Christmas, Level 3: Gurpurab.
Participants of each house, at each level, worked dedicatedly in full festive spirits & with great creativity both to compete and prepare the best work for decoration.

For the event concluding ceremony, special guests were invited to judge the competition; panel of Judges included Sh. Jitender Singh, Principal Govt. Sr. Sec. School Ratia, Sh.Krishan Singh, arts & drawing Teacher, Govt. School Ratia and also Sh. Lokesh Gupta, Sr. Manager. Axis Bank, Ratia. They all appreciated the talent and creativity of the students whilst giving their judgment and announcing winners.

~ Deekhsa Singh
~ New Delhi, 12th Nov ’13

Impressed with the talent? Help us uncover such talents, Donate here

10th November 2013: The Kalgidhar Trust of Baru Sahib, in association with ‘Nishkam Medical Care Society’ of Patiala, organized the 57th free Medical Check-up & Treatment camp at village Bhai Desa located in District Mansa.

The camp is a part of the organization’s routine campaigning that seeks to serve the ailing patients located in the rural and remote villages across the Northern Rural belt of India. A volunteer team of experts and specialist doctors from Patiala performed 1150 free check-ups and also distributed free medicines to the patients.

To inaugurate the 57th Medical Camp, Rajya Sabha member – Balvinder Singh Bhondadh was invited as a special guest, cited Principal Gurjeet Kaur of Akal Academy, Bhai Desa.

The same team of doctors alongside Nishkam Medical Care Society, had previously organized the 56th Camp in association with the Trust at Akal Academy located in Village Rajia, where over 400 patients had arrived from different villages in the vicinity and some far flung areas, where Dr Mehta also informed that next – on 22nd, 23rd & 24th November, Free Operations and Surgeries will be performed at Akal Academy Charitable Hospital, located at Baru Sahib in Himachal Pradesh.

The doctors have been drafting a list of cases/patients who required surgical treatments/operations whilst the ongoing Check-up camps; the eligible patients will then be visiting the Akal Charitable for free operation/surgery treatment during the aforementioned dates.

~ Deeksha Singh
~ New Delhi, 11th Nov ’13

Across Akal Academies, the Teachers are regarded as the very lifeline of our education system; the aspect of recruitment, hiring & event development of Teachers as per requirements of our Value-Based Education system is considered most crucial and critical for healthy nurturing of students.

Over the schooling experience of past 27 years, having gained much experience in terms of identifying the best teaching techniques, acquiring in-depth knowledge, understanding about the special needs & skill set requirements to maintain high quality-standards of Value-Based education, the Kalgidhar Trust, by virtue of its matured existence, positioned itself to produce its own Teachers.

Working in parity with the charitable Trust’s Akal Institute of Rural Women Development, our Akal Academy has long been able to generate localized teachers by offering Free 3-5yrs Teacher Training Programs to both Akal Academy Alumni; and also to the localized Rural Women, who preliminarily go through a special ‘Free Bride-year course’ to become eligible for Professional Teacher Training Program.

The aspiring teachers  are customized and trained on lines of the Akal Academy principles that seek to lay foundation for Noble & Upright character building for its students through teachers who double up as virtuous role-models, hence leading  by example.

Besides the home production of Teachers, the Akal Academies also recruit best of teachers from across India, through strategically spread ‘Teacher Recruitment Points’ spread all over India.

Also, for the purpose of giving universal exposure to students & to facilitate exchange of teaching ideas &techniques with training faculties of foreign origins, ‘Guest Faculties’ & Volunteers from some of the most acclaimed universities around the World are regularly invited to Baru Sahib, who not only train the students but also transfer-exchange-share vital information on the latest, innovative & upcoming teaching techniques, trends & updates with our school teachers.

~ Ramandeep Singh
~ New Delhi, 11th Nov ’13

Want to help in bringing a positive change? Donate here for the Noble Cause – http://barusahib.org/donate/

This week’s Super Story introduces Akal Academy Muktsar’s star alumnus Jaspreet Singh Sidhu of 2005-06 batch, whose enduring agrarian odyssey set him ashore at New Zealand, where he is exploring innovations in Agriculture as a Research Scientist, working with AgResearch located in Palmerston North of New Zealand.

Jaspreet Sidhu, completed his schooling from Akal Academy Muktsar, where he scored 83% & 82% during his 10^th&12^th examinations; after which, in an effort to pursue his interests in agriculture research he got admitted into Khalsa College(GNDU) for his bachelors, after which, having developed a strong focus  about his approach, he applied & got admitted to Massey University, New Zealand to pursue his higher Degree in the aforesaid field.

In a recent interview, where we got chance to speak to him, Jaspreet led us through his journey from fields of Muktsar to the research lab at his workplace at Palmerston. Recalling his days at the Akal Academy, he revealed that he feels that Akal Academy is supposedly the most disciplined school that exists on this planet; he then told us how the discipline, that was fostered into him at the Academy helped him manifolds in long-run as he went on quoting that “Akal Academies are actually capable of turning monkeys into fine men”, as he smiled cherishing the memories of his school days.

Having observed closely upon the contrasting environments, both at his school, life at his village and the society where he has made his place now, has developed a strong view that if every child gets to receive education and schooling like he did at Akal Academy – they all can equally do fine in their lives as him, especially because the school exclusively teaches the children how to stand-out, which actually, in turn, helps in creating our own space and mark in the alien societies rather than being dissolved into the crowd.

Besides his aggressive pursuit of being an accomplished scientist, Jaspreet revealed how he alongside other like-minded environmental-activists planted over 1, 30,000 tress over the span of last 2 years, at different strategically identified locations in New Zealand. He, alongside his social activist group has many a times been covered in local news magazine for their work & contribution for the society; he maintains a affirm belief that social services should continuously be pursued alongside one’s career path to strike a fair balance between all give ‘n’ take of all good things in life.

He feels fortunate that his educated parents, having an agrarian traditional family background, wisely realized the importance of education in the rural society and admitted him to Akal Academy instead – upon evaluating benefits of added value-based education and spiritual element that Akal Academy exclusively offers.

For Jaspreet, life, though moving at the speed of light, doesn’t keep him off his routine habits of carrying social activities – he dedicates most of his Sundays and holidays to help people with medication. He devoutly maintains his yearly routine of visiting his hometown where he pro-actively handles and resolve issues related to environmental pollution, esp. water contamination. Recognition of his social working has connected him with several Govt. officials. Currently, he & his associates are currently trying to work-out collaboration between Indian & New Zealand Governments to bring revolution in agriculture in India.

Here’s wishing him all the luck! You can also be a part of this wind of Rural Transformation by donating here – http://barusahib.org/donate/

In an effort to curb the ‘use of crackers’ during Diwali Celebrations; practices of ‘burning straw’, that cause much pollution & damage to the environment,  and to help save the girl child from evils of feticide, students of Akal Academy at village Dhanal Kalan, gathered together with Teachers and Staff members to organize a rally across villages & areas in vicinity to benefit from maximum outreach for their appeal.

The ‘Awareness Rally’, was conducted through joint efforts of Akal Academy Dhanal Kalan and the ‘Interact Club Jalandhar Central’. The rally was addressed by S.Gurdev Kaur Sangha – Chairperson-Shiromani Akali Dal(women), Akriti Mehta – Trainee Pilot from Air Force, Dr. G.P Singh and Principal  Harpreet Kaur; who explained about the damage caused by the evils of the society whilst appealed for support to spread awareness for their complete removal from the society.

Preparations for the rally had commenced a week before Diwali, the students were given informational and motivational insights about the agenda, each morning during the daily assembly session, through lectures, skits & thought sharing sessions.

The event concluded with the terminal phase of the rally; which started from Mann Medicity Hospital (Khambra), went through Nangal Purdil, Dhanal Kalan to finally reach the Academy for conclusion.

Throughout the rally, students did a splendid job at carrying and speaking slogans while appealing for the causes to the people of the village en route. The spectators appreciated the work & efforts of the children and the Academy’s initiative and pledged to save environment in every possible way!

The rally was led by the ‘Gatka’ squad of the Academy, under the command of Satnam Singh (Gatka Master); the Gurdwara Committee of Khambra organized for the refreshments for the students and staff during the course of the rally.

During the event, also present amongst the invited guests were, S.Ujjagar Singh, S.Santokh Singh (Delhi Paints), Mr. Rajesh Dutta (President Rotary Club, Jalandhar Central), Dr. J.S Mann (M.D. of Mann Medicity, D.S. Anand, Mr. Om Prakash, Interact Club In-charge – Manjeet Singh, President – Sahibpreet Singh, Secretary Arshpreet Kaur and all Akal Academy & Akal Teacher Training Institute(women) staff members.

~ Deeksha Singh
~ New Delhi, 9th Nov ’13