On Monday 20th January 2020, I was invited by Pinkwell Primary School in Hayes, London, to talk to the students about Sikhi. Bhenji Sukhbinder Kaur Ji who works at the school as a teacher, helped to arrange the programme. The school had planned for the whole of Year 5 to spend the entire day learning about Sikhi and building upon the knowledge of the students that they had learnt from previous lessons.
The day started with an assembly. I was kindly received from the reception and taking to the assembly hall. One by one the classes arrived. The students included Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. There were children of different ethnic backgrounds. The 30 minute interactive assembly was based on the Mool Mantar. I used each word from the Mool Mantar to explain firstly about Vahiguru, and secondly how a Sikhs practically embrace and live each part of the Mool Mantar.
So, we started with Ek Oankaar. So I explained to the children, there is One Divine Power that made all of us, keeps us all alive and whose presence is within all of us and around all of us. "If God is one, then how can I, as a Sikh, learn from this and make this a part of my daily living?" The children gave their various answers. Then I explained, "Sikhs experience "oneness" with God through Simran (meditation), and experience "oneness" with humanity through Langar that is available at all Gurdwaras." This way, we went through the whole Mool Mantar with photographs of Sikhs putting Sikhi into practice to provoke thought and discussion. The children were really engaged and had some really nice answers. One child commented on "Akaal Moorat" (Timeless Existence) by saying, "We may get busy, but God always takes time to hear us and help us because he is Timeless." Lovely.
After the assembly I had 20 minutes to visit 3 Year 5 classes. The students had an opportunity in this session to ask me any questions. The children had really nice questions. Some of the questions were so innocently asked and put a smile on my face. For example, "Can you have a shower?" "Can Sikhs build houses because they love the environment?" Vaheguru. As usual, they loved to ask about the Kirpaan. The children were very excited and some of the classes took more than time than scheduled.
I was really taken aback how well behaved and disciplined the children were. They were very calm and collective (which is a rarity with children nowadays!). One class was even happy to give up some of their lunch time so that they could continue to ask questions.
Such initiatives of going to school and interacting with the wider community is really important to break down barriers and promote social cohesion. Whether or not the children will remember what they learnt in 20 years time is unsure, however, hopefully they will feel welcomed and safe when they see a Sikh wearing a Kirpan and Bana because they remembered the feeling they had when they interacted with Sikhs when they were younger.
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