FREMONT: Khalsa School, Fremont commenced its organized Operation on March 22, 1992 under the auspicious control of Sikh Temple Fremont. Earlier attempts had failed in organizing such a school at the current level.

The main objective of the school is to teach Punjabi language in Gurmukhi script, so that young American Sikhs can understand the true flavor, essence and meaning of the Holy Sikh Scriptures and at the same time the cultural heritage of the youngest religion of the World, Sikhism. It is pertinent to say that the Sikh religion has many facets of morality, such as a complete ban on smoking, drug use, narcotics, and alcoholic drinks.

To start the above aims and ideals were developed. A questionnaire was developed for the registration of the students. In order to motivate the parents and mobilize teaching support-a flyer was developed by Ravi Shergill indicating fees, schedule, and request for voluntary teaching assistance.

For the first time 125 students turned up for registration. The schedule for each quarter was Prayer for 20 minutes; Reading for 35 minutes; Waiting for 35 minutes: Break & Refreshment for 10 minutes; and Divinity for 20 minutes, The classes started at 11:30 a.m. and ended at 1:30 p.m., followed by Langar ,which teaches unity and equality among Sikhs; no high no low.

P.T.A was organized, with Ram Singh as Chairman. The School Logo was designed and approved by parents and Gurdwara management. Jamail Singh Ghuman pleaded strongly for the necessity of full-fledged school for Sikh students to encourage the growth of Sikh religion and preserve the cultural identity among the Sikh youths in U.S.A. This is a necessity of the time and people would welcome it wholeheartedly. He further suggested a broad based board should examine the feasibility and financial requirements of the project.

Bhai Jagjit Singh Head Priest of the Gurdwara Sahib is exceedingly satisfied and happy with the performance of the project. He named this project as “Sikhi Da Buta” “The Tree of Sikhism” and the credit goes to the elderly Sandhu couple.

The parents too are happy and satisfied, as the first quarter ended with 80: success rate. Examination results were excellent except two groups.

Khalsa School participated in the Baisakhi Day Parade. School’s float was front paged by “Argus” with a caption of the colorful Sikh caravan. Shaheedi Samagam was on June 5,1992.

After a break of two weeks, the school restarted for the second quarter with 105 students on July 12,1992. During the second quarter there were two landmark achievements,

A trip of 52 children to Exploratorium on August 5,1992, followed by a visit to Golden Gate Park; and the beach, The second biggest event was the involvement of the School in the cosponsored Gurmat Camp by Vancouver Khalsa School and Gurdwara Sahib, Fremont, between August 23-28,1992. 125 campers participated in all, 17 from Canada and 108 from America, 43 young Sikhs embraced baptism a great success indeed. There had been no mishap whatsoever during the camp.

The Sewa outlook of Sikh religion is unique concept in teaching young American Sikhs the love of voluntary but free service. This will show the pathway for dignity for labor, the effort appreciated by the parents. Now the students themselves are capable of offering daily prayer. Majority of them have learned the basic knowledge of Sikhism i.e., names of 10 Gurus, Panj Pyaras, four Sahibzadas, and five Takhats (Temporal seats of Sikhism) and a few pauris of Japji Sahib,

There has been a very good response from volunteers initially for teaching support, which dampened down with several drop outs forcing reshuffles. The reasons for such dropouts were several, imposing considerable stress and strain on the Administration. The second quarter is now with a more or less dependable teaching support.

A coordination committee of six members was instituted, namely Jaswinder Singh Jandi; Jaswinder Singh Gill; Dalwinder jit Kaur Biring  Bhajan Singh Bhinder; Rajinder Kaur Sandhu; Bhai Tarlok Singh Sandhu. Jaswinder Singh Gill was the coordinator. He discharged his responsibilities with utter devotion and sincerity. Bibi Rajinder Kaur Sandhu as Principal and Bhai Tarlok Singh Sandhu as administer did commendable work in making this project a success.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 2, 1992