Blissful Students & Teachers at all Akal Academies celebrated the divine ‘Pehla Prakash Utsav of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji’ over the last weekend. The pious day was observed with devotional programs including Shabad Kirtan, Path Recitation & Akhand Paths at several academies.
At Akal Academy Muktsar, the celebrations were carried with religious fervor & excitementwhere two Akhand Path Sahibs were performed and organized by students on 31st Aug that concluded today. The students & teachers together recited the sacred Salok Mehla 9 followed by Shabad Kirtan performance & Ardas by students at the Darbar Sahib located at the Academy.
Amid devotional programs the Principal, Ms. Symbolpreet Kaur addressed the students with key facts regarding history & importance of Guru Sahib Ji upon which a quiz was also organized later wherein students of 10+2 participated with immense interest.
The Principal congratulated the students by sharing her mind “It is heart-warming to see my students performing Akhand Path Sahibs with full discipline and zeal. This truly is our offering on this pious day”.
~ Ramandeep Singh, Student
~ New Delhi, 2nd Sep 2013
The Akal Academy at Majri, Ambala has set another example of dynamic nurturing of its students at a recent event held at Gurdwara Machonda, Ambala where all Akal Academy participants received mementoes as accolades from the members of the Gurdwara.
Students of primary level presented ‘Dhadi Vaar’ and sang ‘Shabads’ over harmonium & table. Amid this great exhibition of talent, the performance of a class-I boy from this rural school, played ‘Tabla’ and was well appreciated by the audience. A Nursery student Manjot Singh remained the star of the show for his fluent narration of ‘Kavita’ i.e. a poem, & ‘Mool Mantra’ recitation. A multitude of pupils participated from their respective schools to evince their expertise and flair for Gurbani.
Little Bhavish Kaur, 9yrs, of Akal Academy Majri, Ambala was announced winner in a drawing competition organized at Gurdwara Manji Sahib last month. Children from many other schools participated and portrayed different shades of Punjab & its culture but Bhavish Kaur’s vivid drawing got everyone’s attention.
She sketched an exotic character , a female “Kaur Warrior” which was a manifest of her vivid imagination inspired from the life story of real life Sikh hero Banda Singh Bahadur, also known as Lachhman Das, who was a Military commander in the Sikh history.
Upon winning she revealed to the audience that she was much engrained by the persona of the great warrior that she could sense the zeal & courage that must have existed amongst both men & women at the time that the legend lived & brought victories; she started fancying the heroism of the character & wanted to represent a women version of it.
When I was born to the family of mine, I had no idea what was in store for me in this amazing world called ‘life’. Being a girl child from a not – well to do family, I could imagine myself behind the social norms that would confine me to my home doing household work with my aspirations and aim in life stay buried deep inside me.
But destiny had different plans for me. I was the chosen one, I was the one who was given a chance to live my dream and taste what success is like. The Kalgidhar Trust through AIRWE Baru Sahib picked me up, helped me grow each day spiritually and mentally. It was not easy for me to adapt to the good things that were happening to me, I fought a fight within me, a fight with my conscience that said I will not excel, the fight with myself to prove who I am, the fight to reach out to my ultimate goal.
The further I was going, the brighter I could see myself living my dream. The desire in me to excel, to not be just another name, pushed me to join Baru Sahib. From that very day, I experienced what a blessed child would have. I feel blessed and possess the power to have a say in whatever I do, I am the decision maker. I too was bound with the social evils, but I let them go and took a hand in hand with Akal Academy. Now, I have learnt how to fight for what is right for me. I don’t look back to where I was; I take inspiration from where I am and plan for where I will be. I am being groomed to be a teacher and this is where I am looking forward across the fence where I am working for the rural education and bringing in a positive change. I am here to excel and I dream for a better and brighter world ahead.
Ending the month of August with some refreshing moments that went uncovered. Witness some frozen frames of Independence Day Celebrations from Akal Academy Gomti and Rataolan. Celebrating the Spirit of Patriotism Akal Academy Gomti
In the light of teachings of being spiritual and of eternal values, Akal Academies yet again played a pivotal role in making students feel ecstatic and help work for a noble cause. In an event organized by Department of Forestry Punjab, Akal Academy, Bhariyal Lehri, motivated its students to participate in the Punjab Greening Mission to do their bit in saving environment and to promote greenery.
Pathankot DC Mr. Sibin C. and DFO Mr. Mahavir Singh alongwith school principals, teachers and students participated in the event and planted over 300 trees imparting the knowledge as to how to preserve the nature and work for the betterment of the Nation as a whole. “It is really heartwarming to see these kids and the planted trees grow together, both providing much needed solace to the society”, said Principal Mrs. Jasbeer Kaur Sandhu on the occasion.
Positivity afloat across Akal Academy, thus afloat the air of change.
“No Man Stands So Tall as When He Stoops to Help a Child”
In an auspicious event on 18th Aug 2013, 81 young students of at Akal Academy Tibber, alongwith their parents received Almighty’s blessings through “Amrit Sanchar” through the blessed five Piaras as they took on initiation into the Sikhi fold as per the rites instituted by Dashmesh Pitah Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. The kids were glowing with pride on their initiation into Sikh Rehat Maryada.
Five Trees were also planted by the Panj Piaras as a timestamp for the remembrance of this graceful event.
Headmistress Gurvinder Kaur congratulated the blessed kids and their parents for being an example to the society. She said “My head bows in love to these young kids who stood tall in these testing times and chose to be Amritdhari at this young age. Not only that, they managed to convince and cajole their parents to walk the same path. I feel like kissing the forehead of each of these blessed kids.”
ਪ੍ਰਥਮ ਰਹਿਤ ਯਹਿ ਜਾਨ ਖੰਡੇ ਕੀ ਪਾਹੁਲ ਛਕੇ ॥
Prathham Rehith Yehi Jan Khanddae Kee Pahul Shhakae ||
On the rural outskirts of Ambala city, historical Gurdwara Sahib situated in village Panjokhra, recently organized an exclusive all-in-English event where rural school children participated in various contests like Sikhi-quiz, poem narration, recitation of Mool-mantra explaining its importance & contemplation in English.
In this first of its kind event, several Akal Academy students of village Majri, Dist. Ambala participated & received shields for their performances. The Gurdwara members reckoned the importance of the event, expressing how important it is for our youth to be able to understand the meaning of Gurbani, especially in the times when English is getting more prevalent a language amongst youth worldwide.
The authorities decided to encourage such events explaining to the students, the need to preserve the language of our heritage i.e. “Punjabi” alongside, whilst addressing the critical need of developing equivalent proficiency at the English language at the same time for efficient understanding, sharing the ideas of Sikhi at world level.
Learn more about the rural education revolution being brought about silently by The Kalgidhar Trust, Baru Sahib through a chain of 129 Akal Academies & support us in building more rural schools to save Punjab by Clicking Here
~Ramandeep Singh, Student
~New Delhi, 26th Aug 2013
Davinder Singh a small farmer in Ratia, District Fatehabad used to always ponder at the fact the young boy born to him was always wide-eyed and gurgling with joy whenever he used to be in the open skies at night. Young Monty used to get hyper and excited when he saw the moon and the twinkling stars. Little did this rice farmer know that his Monty was destined for unraveling the mysteries of the other world?
A shy and quiet student, Montek performed brilliantly in his school exams and was always the pet of his teachers at Akal Academy, village Ajitsar Ratia. As he reached Class XII, he not only scored spectacularly in his boards but also cracked his way through SAT-I scoring an astonishing 2120/2400. Later in SAT-II he astounded a lot while smashing 750/800 in Maths, 730/800 in Chemistry, 5/5 in Physics & 5/5 in Calculus BC. Immediately, a hawk-eyed Professor noticed this hidden talent and invited Montek Singh to study at the University of Colorado Boulder’s CASA (Centre for Astrophysics & Space Astronomy) to pursue a specialised 5 year program on Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences.
Montek’s joy knew no bounds when he learnt that UoCB was offering him a scholarship of 60% of all his costs. This program is designed to meet student needs for training in space sciences, including astronomy, astrophysics, planetary sciences, and space physics. Students pursuing this major have the option of following one of two tracks: General Astronomy, housed in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences (APS); or Astrophysics/ Physics, jointly supervised by APS and the Department of Physics.
To his father and Teachers, it seems that this will carve Montek’s path to enable him be a space scientist or an astronaut cruising space-ships, a career option that has a grown cult in India especially ever-since death of astronaut Kalpana Chawla, widely known as the first Indian American astronaut and the first Indian woman in space, who died in an accident while on a NASA space mission in 2003.
Ajit – Daily Newspaper
Montek’s success is being seen as contrastingly distinctive, especially for a rural student from village, belonging to an under-privileged family. It’s astonishing to notice that Montek Singh comes from a rural School where none of the students subscribe to tradition of attending tuitions beyond school hours! The Teachers themselves take up this responsibility of providing tuitions to their students within the school and school-hours.
Children at his village now know him as their super hero who is destined to fly into sky. As joy-filled tears well up, Davinder looks back to those days and realizes that there was a message for him, which he could not decipher.
You can also help a rural child achieve his dreams by sponsoring their schooling for as low as Rs 500 a month. Click Here
~ Ramandeep Singh, Student
~ New Delhi, 24th Aug 2013
Blissful Students & Teachers at all Akal Academies celebrated the divine ‘Pehla Prakash Utsav of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji’ over the last weekend. The pious day was observed with devotional programs including Shabad Kirtan, Path Recitation & Akhand Paths at several academies.
