AYV News, September 3, 2024
Complementing President Dr. Julius Maada Bio’s free education agenda, the Indian faith in Sierra Leone, Shri Gurudwara Sahib, supports 172 pupils, from 82 private schools within the Lumley community, with full-year tuition fees, school exercise and text books, uniforms and sets of essential school materials, through its Baba Guru Nanak Scholarship Package.
Delivering the keynote address to the beneficiaries and their parents at the conference room of Jetty Trading in Lumley, Head of the Scholarship Package, Mohinder Bir Singh Sachdeva, who also doubles as CEO of Jetty Trading Company, said the scholarship targets 172 pupils from private schools within the Lumley community and its environs.
According to him, since June 2017 when he started business in Lumley, he has been aiming to give back to the community from the small profit he makes.
He said coming from the Sikh religion in Indian, they believe in the 3 guiding principles which includes: Always remember God throughout the day; earn your livelihood through hard work and by honest means; and to selflessly serve and share with others especially with those less fortunate than yourself.
This according to Mr. Sachdeva is what initiated the scholarship.
He said during their daily and weekly worships in their Temple, worshippers give offering and it is from those offerings that supports come to help the needy.
He recalled that through the Baba Guru Nanak package, Shri Gurudwara Sahib Sierra Leone limited has been giving several humanitarian helps to the needy, listing food and drink supplies to underprivileged and needy people including security forces, students, community people and many more, during the heat of COVID-19, lockdowns and other challenging times as some of their services.
Currently, Mr. Sachdeva further revealed, he supported and funded the medical bills for a sick baby, the refurbishment of a primary school in Lumley, coupled with weekend preparation and supplying of delicious food packs to people in Lumley and nearby communities. He said his aim to be spending 50 million leones and more on the Baba Guru Nanak Scholarship to school pupils.
He said the scholarship package entails paying of school fees, supply of exercise books, bags, uniforms and assorted school materials to each selected pupils.
A senior member of the Sikhism Temple, the world’s fifth-largest religion, Harkishin Balani comment on their work to help people in times of need, citing sending sick children overseas for medical and helping the needy as some of the major services they have been offering.
He said the best gift one can give a human being is education, using the meeting as an opportunity to admonished parents to monitor their children’s educational work and guide them where necessary so as to build a wonder future.
Representing the Indian High Commission in Sierra Leone, Charge d’ Affaires, Neeraj Kumar Saini said Sikh religion is one of the youngest world religions and was founded more than 500 years ago (1469) in Punjab, North India, by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, in response to a spiritual revelation.
He said Nanak and his nine successors are known as ‘gurus’, which is a term for a spiritual guide or teacher.
Chairman of the Baba Guru Nanak Scholarship, Abdulai Bah, said the beneficiaries were carefully selected within deprived communities within Lumley and its environs, adding that for safer reasons, the school fees will not be given in physical cash to beneficiaries but paid directly to their school either by provided school bank accounts or to the schools directly.
Abdulai went on that the Baba Guru Nanak Scholarship is targeting pupils in private schools because government is already running free school charges in government schools.
Parents of the beneficiary pupils thanked the Shri Gurudwara Sahib Sierra Leone limited for bring the Baba Guru Nanak Scholarship package and for incorporating their children in the community.
They assured the scholarship donors that as parents, they will monitor to ensure their children focus in their academic.