News & Update

18th Dec 2015

The petition has gained momentum and has enjoined thousands of these silent victims of being bullied at school!

Sign NOW- www.change.org/bansikhjokes

These Young impressionable minds have perceptions that are fresh and uninhibited, but they are often contaminated by these notions which has no basis, we are raising generations which might not have an answer to this discrimination, or the reason to why are they ridiculed. It is directly having an impact on the psychological mind of the child.

The historic significance of’12 baj gye’ was shared with them and a feeling of pride was instilled in their hearts. Posters, charts emotionally integrated and involved them to break the silence and move towards this cause.

Enthused children took a pledge to generate support for thepetition from all quarters and bring an end to the bullying and taunts that they are subjected to.

Born as SIKHS should be a matter of great pride to them and not to be ashamed of. Sikh children should not face bullying or insults in the name of casual fun.

It’s Time for us to take the responsibility that

– Tapasleen Kaur

“I saw this story on daily Kos. It show how ignorant some of our fellow Americans are, not understanding that Sikh folks are not Muslim, simply assuming it because of headgear. Ignorance can be dangerous, as the murders in Milwaukee showed some time ago, so spreading information about Sikhs and the wonderful culture may have some survival value. I regret that this young man was dragged through intolerance and misunderstanding, and I am appalled that law enforcement in this instance appears to be just as ignorant as some citizens. It won’t help much, but people like me value diversity and see ignorance as a poison.” – Greg Brecht

Our history is full of examples how Sikhs have stood for protection of OTHERS , put HUMANITY first and their own life last. Even in the face of extreme intolerance SIKHS are willing to shower love instead of reciprocating Hate.

Students of all age groups made sure they gave their contributions in the grand event. They participated in utmost sanctity and religious fervour. Students were dressed in their traditional attires adding to their divine aura.

The presentations, skits highlighting the life of Guru Nanak Dev Ji enlightened the young impressionable minds. The Principal appreciated the efforts put in by the students and the staff members in making the the day a memorable one.

The students were inspired to imbibe the teachings of Guru Sahib in their Daily lives and remain firm to their roots.

-Tapasleen Kaur
18th Dec 2015

The White House celebrated the birth anniversary of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak with top aides of President Barack Obama assuring the community of his full support.

Beautiful shabad kirtan, reflecting on his teachings and equality for all, weaved together and made it a memorable day. Senior Advisor to President Obama – Valerie Jarrett and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General – Vanita Gupta also spoke at the event.

Both spoke about the administration’s commitment to the Sikh community and acknowledged the recent hate crimes against Sikhs. They stated they will “fight for their citizen’s right of religion”. Creating awareness is the first step in education.

The teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji has a special resonance for us where fear and ignorance are giving rise to hatred, violence, and intolerance, it becomes a profound symbol for equality and love for all irrespective of caste , creed ,color or religion.

Sikhism for peace contest at an all India level was conducted at Akal Academy Bilga. It was conducted by Shri Guru Nanak Educational Help Society Patiala. Under this 57 students from 5th to XI participated in Gurbani writing Contest. It was a great matter of pride that our 6 students got medals, 6 silver medals and 6 bronze medals.

1st Position- Gold Medals were bagged by Sukirat Kaur (5C), Anjali (6B), Gurjinder Kaur (7B), Gurleen Kaur(8B), Gagandeep Kaur (9B) and Manpreet Kaur (10C).

2nd Position—Silver medals were bagged by Bhavanpreet KKAur (5B), Simranjeet Kaur (6C), Sukhdeep Kaur (7A), Ramandeep Kaur (8B), Armanpreet Kaur (9B) and Jaspreet kaur (10C).

3rd Position – Bronze Medals were bagged by Simranjot Kaur (5A), Parneet Kaur (6B), Gurleen Kaur(7B), Komalpreet Kaur (8D), Sharandeep Kaur (9B) and Manvir Kaur (10A).

This competition was conducted under the supervision of Activity Incharge Ms. Inderjit Kaur. Principal and staff members congratulated the winners. Principal Mrs. Harpreet Kaur Sahni motivated others to participate in such type of Activities whole heartedly.

In an effort to upgrade and enhance the teaching skills of English Language teachers, Akal Academy Kajri Niranjanpur under the auspices of Kalgidhar Education Trust, Baru Sahib organized “Two Days Teachers’ Workshop on English Language Skill Development” on 4th and 5th December, 2015 About 40 English Language teachers of Primary wing from Academies of U.P. region participated. The workshop was sponsored by Scholastic Publications, New Delhi. Ms. Sreerupa Sil was the resource person in the workshop.

At the very outset, participants, faculty guests, resource person were welcomed by the host Principal, Akal Academy Kajri, Mrs. Simran Kaur Thind. Later all the participants were briefly instructed by Mr. Ashok Singh Guleria HOD English/Head Coordinator and necessary details were given regarding workout schedule of the workshop.

Session I
Session I of the workshop began at 9.00 am. First of all participants were made to introduce themselves through an activity.., “KNOW YOUR GROUP.”Meanwhile discussion on the problems of children in language learning such as shyness, lack of confidence, poor handwriting, was discussed. Teachers too narrated their own experiences of teaching–learning problems. The resource person very efficiently suggested possible solutions to these problems. In the first Session “Grammar Skill Development “tips were given to the teachers. The resource person through many innovational and fun activities gave simplest and easiest methods to teach grammar in primary classes..She stressed upon he need of teaching grammar using “Know, Apply and Correct method.

SessionII

Session II of the workshop began after short tea-break. The session was devoted to Common Problems in Teaching Grammar “In this session Ms. Sreerupa asked the teachers to teaching grammar following Activate, Engage, Extend, Execute, Evaluate steps. At the very outset, group wise topics were given and teachers were made to express fluently randomly. without pause. A drill on framing questions answers was done. Teachers were asked to frame sentences using, what, why, when, who, whose, whom and How. In this session teachers’ queries regarding Nouns, Pronouns, verbs, preposition use deficiencies were addressed. Lastly the individual problems of the teachers in their respective classes were taken for discussion.

Tapasleen Kaur

Around 1881, a debate ensued in English and French papers as to who was the most successful military general in the world. Some names which were much talked about then were Napoleon, Marshal Handenberg, Lord Kitchner, General Carbuiser or Duke of Wellington. After mention of the generals from European sub continent, Halaku Khan, Changez Khan, Alaudin of Asia were also counted in. But when the mention of S. Hari Singh Nalwa came, the British writer GW Leitner bowed his head in reverence to the most successful army General of the world. For his ability to triumph over Afghanistan where the British rulers had failed despite unlimited resources of manpower and money available to them. If S. Hari Singh had so much resources, he could have conquered Europe and middle east. He was not only a capable General but an administrator of high caliber, a man of very high and noble character, a scholar, a farsighted person endowed with unique quality of self sacrifice. He spent his whole life in the service of the Panth. His love for the Panth is evident from his statement that he made when the time for choosing a worthy successor of Panth.Panth is evident from his statement that he Khalsa Raj came up. He said–

“I consider Khalsa Raj as something of trust of Panth Khalsa. Before its reigns are entrusted to any one, the subject demands greater deliberation.”

Battle of Naushehra.

Yaar Mohammad Khan had been appointed as Governor of Peshawar by the Khalsa Darbar. He was the brother of Azim Khan the ruler of Afghanistan.

Mohammad Azim Khan was much unhappy at the continued prosperity of Khalsa Raj. So he invaded Peshawar. Yaar Mohammad Khan escaped into the mountains. Azim Khan

occupied Peshawar and prepared himself to face the Khalsa army in the plains of Naushehra. These news reached Lahore Darbar as well. In order to settle the issue with Pathans once for all, the cantonment commanders were instructed to leave just sufficient army to look after the cantonment and mobilise the remainder to participate in the battle. On hearing the order, S. Hari Singh marched with his army to Attock. Prince Sher Singh also reached there and met S. Hari Singh.

They constructed a boat bridge over river Attock. When they learnt that the enemy had taken up defensive position in the field of Jahangira, they launched an attack the next morning. The Pathan army was four times more than the Khalsa army. Prince Sher Singh advanced deep into the hills in hot pursuit of the enemy. He was soon trapped by the Pathans. S. Hari Singh lost no time in breaking the encirclement. Mohammad Zaman Khan seized the opportunity in this chaos. He took some soldiers and cut loose the ropes of the boat bridge. The boats were washed away by the swift current of the river. As a result the route of re-inforcement of the Khalsa army was cut off.

When the Maharaja and Baba Phula Singh Akali reached river Attock at the head of their army, they were surprised to see the bridge washed away and damaged. Hearing the din of battle coming from across the river, in the surge of emotion of love for the nation, Akali Phoola Singh spurred his horse into the waters of river Attock.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh followed him suit. Before the Khalsa army could join the fray, the battle had already been won. But a bigger battle was yet to take place. Countless Pathans assembled in the battlefield of Naushehra under the flag of Jehad. They were approximately 45,000. Mohammad Azim Khan provided 15,000 men and 30 guns to his brother Dost Mohammad Khan and ordered him to join the Pathan forces at Naushehra. Pathans were now moving like swarm of locust.

So a supplication prayer was made after the singing of Asâ kî Vâr on the morning of 14th March 1823 and Lord’s permission was sought to attack the enemy. Right then an informer conveyed the news that Muhammad Azim Khan has reached the open grounds of Kheshgi with heavy artillery under his command. Hearing this Maharaja Sahib felt that the attack should be delayed for some times when the artillery of Khalsa army would also fetch up.

Baba Phula Singh Akali did not subscribe to the views. Maintaining the sanctity of the supplication made a little while earlier, he marched towards the battlefield with his Jatha and charged at the enemy. By then Khalsa artillery had also arrived. So the Maharaja ordered S. Hari Singh and General Ilaral to head for Kheshgi against Azim Khan. The artillery guns were also placed under their command. Khalsa army snatched away the guns of the Pathans and were used against them. Seeing the precarious position of his force now, Mohammad Azim Khan absconded from the battlefield and headed straight for Kabul. This field fell into the hands of the Khalsa but at the heavy cost of life of Baba Phula Singh Akali. Peshawar was invested. S. Hari Singh was asked to stay there for sometimes to set the administration in order.

~ Source: Daily Sikh Updates

In a suspected hate-related incident, Sikh was shot in the face during a struggle with an unidentified man who called him a terrorist and part of the ISIS terror group as he tried to rob the store, a media report said.

The clerk, whose name was not released, worked at a store in Michigan owned by Sikh-American businessman Inderjit Singh.
The clerk sustained injuries and was released from hospital over the weekend. He told co-workers that the robber called him a “terrorist” because he is of Indian descent, according to a report in mlive.com, a Michigan-based news website.

Mr Singh’s daughter Gurleen Kaur, said the robber demanded money from the store worker then led him to a back room where he put the barrel of a long gun into the worker’s mouth.

The victim, 34, told Ms Kaur that the robber called him a “terrorist” and said he was part of Islamic State terror group.
The worker, fearing he would be killed, grabbed the rifle and was shot in the cheek during the struggle, she said. Grand Rapids Police Sergeant Terry Dixon said the victim responded bravely.

“We’re very proud of how he responded in light of this incident. This could’ve been much, much worse given the apparent intent of the suspect,” Mr Dixon said.

“If the victim had not fought off the suspect, then this could’ve been a much more serious incident.”

Ms Kaur said the gunman threatened the worker allegedly because of his ethnicity “but I don’t know why he did what he did,” she said.
“It could’ve happened to anyone that looks like us,” she said.

“We’re Americans,” she said. “We’re trying to live normal lives, be Americans.”

The robber, wearing a mask and holding a gun, left with an undisclosed amount of money

Source- NDTV

Satguru Nanak pargateya miti dund jag chanan hoya!!
(With the emergence of the true Guru Nanak, the mist cleared and the light scattered all around.)
Invoking the memoir of eternal majesty of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji who lived in this corporeal world to show humanity the path of virtuous life, and gave his simple and vibrant principles of life, “Kirat Karo, Naam Japo, and Vand Chhako.

Celebrating 546th birthday of Dhan Sri Guru Nanak Devji with devotional fervor, Akal Academy Kajri School Management, staff, students and parent fraternity assembled in the school Darbar Sahib hall where the Bhog of Akhand paath Sahib was performed amid huge sangat.

School teachers and students rendered Shabad Kirtan, life and vision of Shri Guru Nanak Devji was presented through diverse activities.
Baba Nirmal Singh Ji of Nanakpuri, Baba Surjan Singh ji of Mallpuri, Bhai Gurdutt Singh of Barnala Punjab, Bhai Kewal Singh Ji Hazoori Raagi Jatha Gurdwara Damdama Sahib performed Shabad Kirtan and Respected S Jaswant Singh Ji Sewadar of Academies Kajri and Gomti expressed his precious views with the sangat.
Principal Mrs. Siimran Kaur Thind, staff and students gave their immense contribution in the programme.
Others dignitaries who graced the occasion were Dr. Vinod Tiwari (Former Minister U.P. Govt.) Mr. Sandeep Khandelwal (Social Worker),Seramou S.O. Sher Singh Tomar, Gadwa Police Post Incharge, Mr. C.P. Shukla, S. Harbhajan Singh Ji of Longhapur,S. Karamjeet Singh, S.Joginder Singh Ji.Among school staff school teachers and students rendered their sewa in the programme. Mr Philip Xavier, Mrs Sunimol, Xavier,Mr. Vijaypal Singh too contributed to make this programme a great success.
Art and Craft Exhibition:
Art is not what you see but what you make others experience. Another inimitable and moving event of the day was Art craft Exhibition cum Trade Fair organized by the school for the purpose of raising charity for the poor and less privileged children studying at Akal Academy Baru Sahib.
Artistically designed hand made stuff made from waste products were displayed and sold for charity collection purpose. Another important exhibition that marked the occasion was Art Craft Exhibition on Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s life. Artfully designed portraits and paintings depicting the Life of Nanak Dev ji were wonderful.

Harjinder Singh Khalsa known as ‘Man in Blue’ talks about how he was able to get off of drugs and alcohol after Darshan of Guru Ji at Sri Harmandir Sahib. He states that he had life changing experience and it brought him close to Akal Purakh.

While visiting Sri Harmandir Sahib Ji, some humble sevadars guided him in the right direction by providing him Sikh literature and translations Gurbani. He recited Japji Sahib everyday and his life turned around.

Bhai Harjinder Singh Khalsa went through many tragic events in his life but after finding solace in the True Name of the Almighty , he was able to move on and accept hukam of Akal Purakh.