Sometimes I feel that I am in some kind of a transition dream; from my father’s paddy fields at village Thandewala to being a Technical Assistant Manager at Fastway Tranmission Pvt. Ltd. Ludhiana. This journey brought a paradigm shift from a simpleton family to the age of digitization, amidst HD monitors, Digital boxes & LEDs. My plaything and toys consisted of old cartons, wooden discards and empty tin boxes. But now, my life revolves around cable meshes & the responsibility of handling 350+ channels.
I, Manpreet Singh could’ve well been a petty farmer, like my father, had I not been fortunate enough to receive my schooling from Akal Academy, Muktsar. Through my letter, I wish to convey all that’s has occupied a permanent place in my heart – Love, that, like a tree, will only keep blooming further as long as I live.
As a student, I was no brilliant but with blessings of God Almighty & the efforts of the teachers, I could always manage to score decent & my school instilled into me much more that academics. It imbibed into me the values & the spiritual element – the Nitnem; Our Heritage; Knowledge of our religion & much more from those Sakhis that our teachers narrated with such great intent.
Travelling to school was a real challenge. The school was 11 Kms away from my village, but my farmer father would escort me to school each day until the bus service started finally in the later years, as eventually the students’ strength was increasing.
I credit my school for most of my interest & knowledge of sports & arts. It was at school that I developed interest, learned & participated in various sport games & art workshops; the extra-curricular observed ensured that each child is participating whilst the P.T. teachers paid equal attention towards motivating everyone to be a part of the activities; +1 & +2 years were much filled with playing & all about games.
Amongst teachers, I wish to pay my regards to Akhvinder SIr, who gave us a strong foundation in English language & also our Principal Madam Sukhraj Kaur, who strongly motivated all the students at the school to work hard & perform well. Besides the regular school teachers, I also have memories of a very special external faculty, Jasmine Sir, who had especially come from Tamil Nadu to teach us Mathematics – he provided us an incredible base on the subject.
The Academy did a great job in improving the education situation in the village, but unfortunately, at my village not everyone could afford to send their kids to school, several of the families lived BPL & many of the village children remained out of school for that reason. But recently I have learnt that Akal Academies are running special programs like DeedaDay.in & other ancillary initiatives to provide free education such deprived children through sponsorship programs, which I feel can change the situation drastically.
As for the society, I desire more safety for people in our society, especially for people at the village & women, where Drug-Alcohol abuse is causing much damage. I wish there are more Akal Academies & similar schools; infact, all Govt schools should adapt the values based schooling model like Akal Academies run by The Kalgidhar Trust, Baru Sahib. A secure environment for students, especially for women alongside spirituality really makes a huge difference – I sincerely thank Akal Academies & wish even more success to the Baru Sahib’s Kalgidhar Trust in their noble endeavors. Gur-Fateh.