Every Child Is A Flower in The Garden of Sai
For the past two and a half decades, Sai Ananda Foundation Malaysia has been conducting Bal Vikas Classes to build character and to instil the purpose of values in education in each child. Those who attend these classes come from different social backgrounds from nearby places. These classes emphasise to all children to transform themselves to become youth or leaders in the future who benefit society.
The Bal Vikas Programme comes under The Sai Ananda Educare, established in the year 1992 with a handful of children and a few activities. Now, there are more than 150 students attending every weekend and weekdays to experience the bliss of Swami through the EHV (Education in Human Values) classes. With the blessings of Swami, a fruitful Sunday begins with the essence of Nagar Sankirtan, followed by yoga and aerobics. After these two activities, the children have delicious idly (savoury rice cake). Idly is given as it is known to be the best breakfast. Many of the children that come there are malnourished. Sai Ananda provides them with a complete and healthy food menu. With their happy tummy, the children continue their light meditation followed by all other activities that are conducted as per the Bal Vikas and EHV syllabus, such as Bhajans, Veda chanting, instrumental classes, story-time, values-based activities and so on.
As Swami said, true education is not merely for earning a living, but for a fuller and meaningful life. Recently, the EHV assessment was conducted in the month of July. The assessments were both practical and comprehensive. Based on their age group, the children were asked to recite a mantra, sing Bhajans and narrate values-based stories along with written tests. These assessments are to make sure the children benefit from the learning and to also identify the children’s weaknesses and rectify the problem by further improving the curriculum. Furthermore, the children are taken for outings to encourage them in attending Bal Vikas which emphasises to all children to transform themselves and become youth or leaders in the future who benefit society.
