His Holiness Baba Ji, Guest of honour Air Marshal, PS Bhangu, Most venerable Dr. Devinder Singh, Respected Dr. Neelam Kaur, Guests of honour, dignitaries, parents, visitors, staff members and My dear children, on behalf of Akal Academy Baru Sahib, I extend a very warm welcome to you all.
We, in Akal Academy Baru Sahib have always endeavoured to maintain very high academic standards.
I wish to inform the august gathering that Shree Suresh Bhardwaj, Education Minister of Himachal Pradesh who had very kindly consented to be the Chief Guest today was unable to come to Baru Sahib due to the restriction imposed by the Election Commission in view of the Assembly Bye Election tomorrow. He has conveyed his profound felicitations to the students and parents who have come to Baru Sahib today from all parts of the world.
With great sorrow in our heart, I am saddened to share with this august gathering the loss of our three precious jewels in the last three months. First, S. Jatinder Singh, our most affable and precious Public Relation Officer and a devout Gurusikh, who was always cheerful and smiling and ready to take on any assignment, died on 15th June due to a sudden heart attack. He was followed by the Saint Scientist Padam Bhushan Dr. Khem Singh Ji, Guru Bhai of Hon’ble Baba Ji, who was the Vice-President of The Kalgidhar Trust for the last 36 years. He passed away on 17th September 2019. Barely three weeks ago we lost a very promising and dedicated teacher, Ms. Jatinder Kaur. She was an ideal role model for our young girls of senior secondary classes. It is almost impossible for us to fill this void. We pray to the Almighty to shower His spiritual blessings upon the departed souls and give us strength to bear this loss with equanimity.
Ladies and Gentlemen we dedicate this Founder’s Day to the 550th Prakash Utsav of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Guru Nanak was the greatest revolutionary educationist ever born who re-defined education. In ancient days in India we had Gurukuls where the students came from far and wide to quench their thirst for knowledge, which was imparted by Sages. Guru Nanak was an institution by Himself. He was aware of the darkness & spiritual bankruptcy in this part of the world. To dispel this ignorance, he transgressed boundaries and walked the length and breadth of the sub-continent and far beyond, through the four Uddassis. Even in the present digital world, we cannot think of anyone who has touched and impacted human minds such profoundly and in such numbers as Guru Nanak did five centuries and fifty years ago. The entire sub-continent was his school and the divine Gurubani his medium of instruction. That is the reason why his teachings are far more relevant today than ever before. His philosophy of Sarbat Da Bhala (Blessings for all) Internationalism (Entire world is my Parivar) Emancipation and empowerment of women, forgiveness and reconciliation and the concept of removing hunger through Langar is the need of the hour.
The modern education, which has been thrust upon us by our colonial masters, is proving to be the bane of our society as it merely equips us to eke out a living or amass wealth or materials, neither of which gives us mental peace and happiness. Based on Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s teachings Sant Attar Singh Ji, in 1906, put forth the unique concept of teaching spirituality in schools so as to make contemporary modern education more complete, fulfilling and relevant to confront the ills facing the society. Starting with six students in this small village in Himachal Pradesh in 1986, this humble organization now has almost 65000 students on rolls in 129 rural schools and 2 rural Universities in the five North Indian states. Sanskar Nirman is the Mantra that is being followed in these temples of learnings. With such an illustrious heritage and legacy, the children are taught to be patient and tolerant, polite and humble and have love and compassion for people of all faiths and ethnicities. This belief is strengthened in them that the purpose of education is not merely to get degrees from Universities for amassing wealth and materials, but being educated means using the knowledge so gained to serve humanity.
To take you through the rest of the Annual report I call upon our Head boy, Ravideep Singh of Grade XII.
The results of CBSE Grade X exams, 2019 are a living testimony to our claims of excellence.
In the CBSE Grade X examinations 2019, we scored an impressive100% success with 16 students scoing above 90%, 36 students scoring between 80 and 90% and 39 students scoring between 60 and 80%. Toppers Harsh Prakash Dhiraj from Delhi scored 96.6%, He also scored 100/100 in Science and Yukti Kapoor from Delhi scored 96%. Sandal Deep Kaur & Riya Thakur scored 100/100 in Hindi. All in all we are proud to say that the year 2019 has added another feather in the crown of Akal Academy.
The result of Grade XII, as in previous years, filled us with pride and it is an honour to put forward the results here today. Our students scored 100% success with 6 students securing 100/100 in Music, Psychology & Painting and 6 students scoring 99% in Economics & Accountancy.
Srishti Manocha from Panipat secured 96.6% and She was adjudged as the District Topper of Sirmour District in Humanities Stream.
Subject wise pass percentage in Science, Commerce and Humanities stands at 100%. The above goes to prove the impeccable standards we are determined to maintain and deliver.
To conclude this report we have our Head Girl, Jassimar Kaur of Grade XII.
Our children are not mere book worms. Their perseverance, tenacity, dedication and team work was evidenced in the outstanding performance in Sports and Games in the District level Championships. In addition to this 14 players were selected in District teams to participate in State Championship in different games and athletic events.
Out of 120 participants in the inter school Tournaments, Boys & Girls teams bagged First position in Basketball. In yet another display of team work, our Girls team won first position in hockey while Boys Team won first position in Football.
Through our co-curricular activities, we have always endeavoured to channelize our young minds’ interests to explore the best in them. National Gurmat Quiz, National level Olympiads, in house Quiz competitions in Science, Maths, IT, Social Science, English and Gurmat Studies were organized with whole hearted participation to achieve this end.
Before concluding this brief report I thank the supportive management whose continuous support to our ideology of education has enabled the school to come this far. Teachers and the entire staff members also deserve applause for their tireless efforts in implementing the road map of imparting quality education. I also extend my heartfelt thanks to the parents of our students who have shown unremitting faith in us by giving us the profound opportunity to transform their children into truly useful citizens of the future world who shall make the world a beautiful and peaceful place to live in.
Thank you very much.