The Need for Sikh education directorate
Sardar Sadhu Singh
If one dwells on the essence of Knowledge one becomes a Benefactor of all.
This is the best and the highest purpose of Education given to us by Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji. One wonders the Sikhs having such a grand philosophy of Education do not bother about Education at all. Since 1996, Bhai Ashok Singh Bagrian, Dr Kharak Singh Mann and I have been trying our best to bring to the notice of our Sikh leadership the need for Quality Education and a Directorate of Education to manage it. The often quoted lines are very true about our Sikh leadership :-
God in His heaven
All is well with the world
The education scenario in the Punjab is very saddening. There has been lot of deterioration in the school education. The Khalsa schools and SGPC run schools are no exception. There is a great need to jack up the standard of education and management in all the above mentioned schools.
The Sikhs have come into existence with the blessings and sacrifices made by the Sikh Gurus. For Charhdi Kala the Sikhs must have sterling qualities of head and heart. So, there is a great need for imparting Quality Education to the students. Modern scientific education given to the Sikh children can ensure a bright future for the Sikhs.
There is a need to change and adapt to the challenging socio-political situation of a rapidly modernising society. Education should have its aim of both the development of society and the realisation of man’s potentialities. So, the future of the Sikh community depends to a great extent upon the levels of education of the Sikhs. Men of vision and imagination realised this fact at the time of Vishav Sikh Sammelan in 1995. It was resolved that Quality Education should be imparted in all Sikh institutions.
Men of vision who feel very strongly for the welfare of the Sikhs encouraged me to chalk out a programme for imparting Quality Education in the Sikh schools. The Blue Print was prepared and discussed with eminent scholars. Finally, it was proposed to set up an “SGPC Directorate of School Education”. It was to be included in the celebrations of the 300th year of the Birth of the Khalsa.
The SGPC is running a number of Public schools. The programme of imparting Quality Education is aimed at helping all the member schools to raise the level of education. Before implementing the new programme a comprehensive educational survey of all the schools is to be done. Each school should be checked from the angle — The Total Development of the child — the intellectual empowerment, physical fitness, aesthetic sensitization to moral uplift according to Gurmat tenets. The school would be surveyed for the facilities provided at present and to note down the inputs needed for bringing up the school to the required level:
1. Intellectual empowerment - texts, teachers, library, computers and the academic environment.
2. Physical fitness - games & sports facilities, yoga, trekking. swimming, gymnastics.
3. Aesthetic sensitization - art, music, dramatics, Gurmat Sangeet, hobbies.
The Directorate would submit the report about each school to the Governing Council. The Governing Council would examine each report and recommend suggestions to the school management. Thus, the level of Education would be raised by implementing the suggestions of the Governing Council.
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