Akal Academy located in Dhudial, Patiala recently organized an event to celebrate the joy of having daughters. This was an exclusive event organized to create awareness & uplift the morale of girl children & parents across rural explicating importance of daughters on Daughter’s Day.

During the celebrations,students presented a drama where they played different roles to depict different characters of the society; it beautifully highlighted the prevalent evils of the society like female feticide, dowry system and other such issues, upon which the Zonal Director Mr. H.S Anand, who also expressed his views on the subject.

Dr. Khushwant Singh, Registrar Akal University also graced the occasion with his speech on ‘Importance of Daughtersin today’s critical times’, explaining how the rural transformation is connected to empowering the women of the country.

The audience felt even more connectedwith an exclusive all girls play that depicted characters of a Mother, a Daughter, a Sister, a Wife & as Doctors, as an Engineer, a teacher, a pilot and a judge conveying the message of girls being equally pivotal, competent and an all-rounder. Students also recitedbeautifully compiled poems to inspire the audience on the occasion.

The Principal of the academy, Mrs. Gurjeet Kaur appreciated the little young daughters & their caliber through an exclusively prepared speech for them & along with the Zonal Director – Mr. H.S Anand, distributed prizes & souvenirs among the little talented kids in appreciation.

~ Deeksha Singh
~ New Delhi, 12th Oct ’13

In a National Security Services Camp (NSS), organized recently by Akal Academy Kajri, class 10th students of the rural School, taking tips & guidance from professionals, voluntarily took up the task of leveling pits on Assam National Highway (N.H).

The camp activity was conceptualized based on the shocking reports on severe accidents, especially involving bikers & other 2-wheeler riders amongst other motorists, who passed by the patchy highway stretch from Akal Academy Kajri up till the forest near Khuttar village. The road had developed a variety of pits & potholes that often caused serious accidents & even death in a number of cases of lately.

After learning about the matter through discussions with the concerned committee at the village, the staff members of the Akal Academy felt it’s not really worth taking the risk any longer by waiting for the officials to take up the action, that of course would involve several complex procedures which would certainly mean allowing more time that could potentially put lives of several commuters at risk until action.

Perhaps the students alongside staff volunteers decided to take up the task of labor involved in fixing the road. The daily commuters & the locals appreciated the pro-active work & efforts put in by the students, so much so that a nearby resident & social activist, S.Kuldeep Singh, arranged for kids’ refreshment & conveyed a wish that administration should also be equally concerned about such issues.

The camp was organized under the expert direction of NSS Incharge Mr. Vijaypal Singh, who, in the occasion said, that such activities would help develop feelings & sense of social responsibilities amongst students involved & other civilians who observed its execution.

The Principal of the school, Ms. Simran Kaur Thind congratulated the teachers & blessed the students for undertaking such difficult yet noble job, she further added “Akal Academy always encourages students for such activities, as they stand in line with the vision of our parent organization The Kalgidhar Trust, Baru Sahib, which seeks promoting world peace & serving humanity.
“Watching the kids doing what the authorities had to do made; not only me, but the whole Akal Academy proud. These kids are an inspiration for everybody. I am glad to have such talent. Kids here are super talented and spiritually inclined as well, what else do you need to be a complete human being?” said the Principal.

Amongst other vital contributors, were also the school Librarian & Discipline In-charge Mr.Philip Xavier alongside teaching staff & other members who helped making this camp successful.

~ Ramandeep Singh
~ New Delhi, 7th Oct ’13

ਚੀਮਾਂ ਮੰਡੀ, 4 ਅਕਤੂਬਰ (ਜਸਵਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਸ਼ੇਰੋਂ) – ਕਲਗੀਧਰ ਟਰੱਸਟ ਬੜੂ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਦੇ ਸੰਚਾਲਨ ਵਿੱਚ ਚੱਲ ਰਹੀ ਅਕਾਲ ਅਕੈਡਮੀ ਚੀਮਾਂ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਮਾਧਿਅਮ ਵਿਖੇ ਸਰਬੱਤ ਦੇ ਭਲੇ ਅਤੇ ਸੁੱਖ ਸ਼ਾਂਤੀ ਲਈ ਚੱਲ ਰਹੇ 371 ਸ੍ਰੀ ਸਹਿਜ ਪਾਠ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਦੇ ਭੋਗ ਅੱਜ ਅਰਦਾਸ ਬੇਨਤੀ ਕਰਨ ਉਪਰੰਤ ਪਾਏ ਗਏ।ਭੋਗਾਂ ਦੀ ਅਰਦਾਸ ਬਾਬਾ ਇਕਬਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਕਲਗੀਧਰ ਟਰੱਸਟ ਬੜੂ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਵਾਲਿਆਂ ਨੇ ਕੀਤੀ ਉਪਰੰਤ ਸੰਗਤਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਸੰਬੋਧਨ ਕਰਦਿਆਂ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਬਾਣੀ ਪੜ•ਨ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ ਮਨੁੱਖ ਨੂੰ ਕਾਮ, ਕ੍ਰੋਧ, ਲੋਭ, ਮੋਹ ਅਤੇ ਅਹੰਕਾਰ ਤੋਂ ਮੁਕਤ ਹੋ ਕਿ ਆਤਮਿਕ ਸ਼ਾਂਤੀ ਮਿਲਦੀ ਹੈ। ਅਕਾਲ ਅਕੈਡਮੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਨੇ ਤਨ, ਮਨ ਨਾਲ ਇਨ•ਾਂ ਸਾਰੇ ਪਾਠਾਂ ਦੀ ਨਿਸ਼ਕਾਮ ਸੇਵਾ ਕੀਤੀ। ਭੋਗ ਮੌਕੇ ਅਕਾਲ ਅਕੈਡਮੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਨੇ ਰਸ-ਭਿੰਨਾ ਸ਼ਬਦ ਕੀਰਤਨ ਕਰਕੇ ਸੰਗਤਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ ਨਾਲ ਜੋੜਿਆ। ਇਸ ਮੌਕੇ ਅਕਾਲ ਅਕੈਡਮੀ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਿੰਸੀਪਲ ਸਰਦਾਰਨੀ ਬੇਅੰਤ ਕੌਰ, ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀਆਂ ਅਤੇ ਸਮੂਹ ਸਟਾਫ਼ ਨੂੰ ਬਾਬਾ ਇਕਬਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੇ ਸਿਰੋਪਾ ਦੇ ਕੇ ਸਨਮਾਨਿਤ ਕੀਤਾ।

Toppers in Patiala District come from this rural school that also attracts 495 students from Patiala city.

Class 10^th& 12^th results for the academic session 2012-13 of village ReethKheri Akal Academy has set the rural women & the village abuzz; with as much 6 girl students from the academy scoring a perfect 10 point CGPA score in the 10^th class CBSE examination, outshining the boys to attain the top spot in the toppers list this year.

The most stunning part to notice is that none of the students of Akal Academies are subscribed to the tradition of taking tuitions; in fact the responsibility of support & guidance beyond schooling hours is fulfilled by the Academy staff, within the school itself, even if it has to be working beyond the stipulated hours. Teachers always ensure there is no need for students to look for expensive tuitions or external guidance; they believe that course text books alongwith focused training is sufficient to crack through board examinations with flaring scores.

Whilst girls Sheetalpreet Kaur, Sukhvir Kaur, Ramandeep Kaur , Jashanpreet Kaur, Ustat Kaur & Narinder Kaur took a clean sweep at the 10^th board exams, class 12^th’s medical student Ramandeep Kaur  attained top spot amongst medical science stream students across village with her  score of 94%, that remained unbeatable.

Amongst boys rural Rupinder Singh from non-medical side showed the magic obtaining 94.8% aggregate score in the 12^th CBSE board examinations to take the top spot amongst all boys at the village.

“All this is possible with the blessings of Almighty, our generous Patron Baba Iqbal Singh Ji, President of the KalgidharTrust, Baru Sahib under which the Akal Academies are running & the guidance & cooperation of the members & volunteers of the organization. We assure to only get better in future”, told the Principal Ms. Shaminder Pal Kaur of the Akal Academy Reethkheri.

~ Deeksha Singh
~ New Delhi, 2nd Oct ’13

Proving their mettle, the rural students from village Dhotian’s Akal Academy, who received an in-house training on Karate skills at the Academy, went on a knock-out spree at the All India Karate Championship event recently held in New Delhi at Guru Harkrishan Public School’s India Gate Campus.

The Karate Kid team of Dhotian surprised everyone with distinct agility & enormous thrust that was visible in all the rounds of each combat. Youngest Armandeep Singh & Amritpal Singh remained at top on the boards & bagged Gold Medals for the school in the Junior 25-30KG category wherein on the other hand Vishalpreet Singh & Prabhjot Singh gave a head on fight to city students & received silver medals in the sub-junior 31-35Kg category for their exceptional display of endurance & power during the championship.

Another 8 of the juniors settled with bronze medals after giving a fierce competition to hardcore contenders who came from different outstation cities & villages to represent their schools for the Karate Championship Title.

In total the team brought 2 Gold, 2 Silver & 8 Bronze medals for their Akal Academy, making their way to the Wall of Fame across at Akal Academies, leaving a loud roar through a subtle message reminder to the city folks – “Make No Mistake of understanding Rural India, for Spartans too were never big on amenities. “

Sub-Juniors bringing Bronze Medals for Akal Academy Dhotian :
Sukhmeet Singh
Smreet Singh
Prabhdeep Singh
Taranjit Singh
Jarmanpreet Singh
Amrirpal Singh
Bachitar Singh
Ramandeep Singh

~Ramandeep Singh
~ New Delhi, 28th Sep ’13

This time, it’s village Bhairon Khurd’s Sikh boy Karandeep Singh, a baptized “Amrit-Dhari” , who at 17, determinatively marched his way into serving Indian Army, scoring All India Rank 30 in the NDA (National Defence Academy ) intermediate entrance exam & selected as a CADET in 2013-14 batch to receive specialized 3 Yr Army training in Kharagwasla, Pune and 1 yr at IMA Dehradun for purpose of serving The Indian Army.

India Army offers 2 intermediate examinations NDA & TES wherein TES seeks candidates to serve the army as Engineers; Karandeep Singh independently prepared, appeared & cracked through both the examinations, he scored a strong AIR 74 in TES exam also, but chose to serve the Army as a Soldier.

Young Karandeep Singh has no special family background; coming from a rural village, his childhood & family situation have had no exceptions. His farmer family had been living through the gloomy conditions of financial instability, negative output & declining profits, etc that have been pervading the country’s agrarian societies over the past 2 decades; draining the life out of farmers especially in the Northern Rural belt, where farmer suicides remain trending.

We also learned from Karan’s father that Karan has always been a reserved person, even as a child, his interests were atypical. He was never too keen on playing or going outside much, he was a close observer & analyst of things around; perhaps that is what kept him occupied & that is how his determination & motivation developed.

Besides academics, Dharmic Programs & Faith were the only things that have kept Karan’s keen interest throughout all these years, which remains intact; though his family is not baptizes like him, but his father revealed that his family has always been graced to have remained clean off alcohol; they in fact have been pure vegetarians!

Further revealing about his early days during schooling, his dad told that Karan has always remained an independent child ever-since he was little, his only focus was on education he received at the school & his only time-pass was cricket & football, that too indoor, at house veranda with his young brother Jyot-Prakash. He was always so engrained with the studies at school there was never any room, space or even need for any tuitions.

His father also reveal, that in early years of his childhood itself, Karan told his father that observing the given circumstances & stand of agriculture in India, he is decided about not following agriculture & is aiming for becoming a Big officer, that holds prominence in the country.

Karandeep Singh has been a bright student all through his academics. With a keen interest in studies and co curricular activities, Karandeep has never let us down. When I came to know about this great achievement of his, I knew somewhere that this kid had all the capabilities to be where he is now. I wish him all the luck and I am sure he will do the best; said Mrs. Pawan Sahni, principal, Akal Academy Gomti.

Currently, Karandeep is taking training as a CADET under NDA regime; he was travelling when we got a chance to speak to him for a few minutes, as mobiles are prohibited otherwise during the training program. We thank & salute his father for giving his time to us for telling so much about Karan’s journey & bringing up a courageous & determined child in conditions so tough!

~ Deeksha Singh
~ New Delhi, 26th Sep ’13

The Kalgidhar Trust, Baru Sahib believes that rural health; especially amongst children is a critical aspect & a binding element for sustainable & inclusive Rural growth.

In fact, a true Rural transformation is only possible, or let’s say, is only meaningful, if healthy well-being amongst is also assured & ensured for the Rural folks alongside education. Ill-health can well impale a person’s abilities & render a person incompetent to take benefit of the opportunities that education offers, not only it can hamper growth but also break the financial stability of an entire Rural family.

Medical Check-Ups are routinely undertaken across all Rural Akal Academies to ensure that young rural children stay healthy & have a steady & smiling growth. Child Specialists maintain a record & keep a close observation upon both basic & critical health aspects including eye-sight, height & weight ratio, signs of any other developing problem/issue, etc to identify any lurking abnormalities or symptoms, so they can be treated or eliminated with care, in time.

A beaming Ms. Satvinder Kaur, Principal, Akal Academy, Phaphre Bhaike informed us “The last Medical Check-Up session was held here with child Health Experts counseling & examining all school students. And with the grace of God, the Doctors were able to detect a few cases that needed immediate medical treatment. I would endeavor to have Medical check-ups annually.”

~ Deeksha Singh
~ New Delhi, 26th Sep ’13