“The Future of a Country is Made from the Class in a School,” Says Pujya Bhaishri During Guru Purnima Celebrations 2018

On the eve of Guru Purnima, 27^th July 2018, an award ceremony was organised at Sandipani Vidyaniketan in Porbandar to award those teachers working in the field of innovative education in Government granted primary andsecondary schools in Gujarat.

Three special awards were also given by Pujya Bhaishri and the chief guest, the Education Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasama.

In his speech, Pujya Bhaishri informed all that this was the fifth year of the award ceremony to teachers in which he was impressed to see the work by teachers within Innovative Education. He said that the results of this will reveal in five to ten years.

Pujya Bhaishri said, “I have said many times that a teacher and soldier cannot be on duty for eight hours only. They are on duty round the clock. It is fine to have five to ten weak students in a class but it is not acceptable to have a weak teacher. A capable teacher can focus on weak students and make them successful. Thus both teachers and soldiers must be competent. The future of a country is made from the class of a school”.

The awards were presented as follows:

Lifetime Achievement award – Shri Navnitbhai Rathod from Bhavnagar

Śreṣtha Guru Gaurav Award (Best Teacher Award) -Shri Ranchodbhai Pukhrajbhai Soni from Ahmedabad.

Śreṣtha Vidya Mandir Award (Best School Award) -Nova Nadisar Primary School, District Godhara.

In the morning session, a seminar was held on Innovative Education in which the speakers included: Shri Bhagyesh Jha, Gijubhai Bharad, Navnitbhai Rathod and Padmashri Anil Gupta. Padmashri Anil Gupta particularly spoke on how teachers must develop the creativity within children with examples.

Also present during these events were teachers from the secondary schools in Porbandar, Students from R.G.T BED College and local and international guests.

On the morning of Guru Purnima, 27th July 2018, the highlight was Pujya Bhaishri’s speech on the importance of Guru.

Watch the edited video clip containing Pujya Bhaishri’s speech on this occasion.

Explaining the importance of Guru Purnima, Pujya Bhaishri said,” Generally, a disciple bows to their Guru. Rain generally falls during the rainy season but once in a while a rainbow is seen amongst the clouds. Similarly, a disciple bowing to their Guru during Guru Purnima emphasises and strengthens the tradition and relationship of a Guru and disciple. This is why the birthday of Shri Ved Vyas was introduced to be celebrated as Guru Purnima”.

Pujya Bhaishri continued to say that a Guru shares the same love and knowledge to all his/her disciples. However, some disciples are like soil and will grow like a plant while some are like a stone and bear nothing. A Guru’s grace is the same but the levels of disciples are varied.

A Guru Is like Maa Durga as well as Maa Chandi. In the dense jungle of Gir, if a leopard tries to target a child in the presence of Maa, then Maa will scare the leopard away in the form of Chandi. Once the leopard has gone, the same Maa will take the child in her laps and shower her love in the form of Maa Durga.

Similarly, when a disciple is attacked with vices in this world, a Guru saves the disciple from the vices in the form of Chandi. Then, the Guru loves the disciple and showers his/her compassion like Karunamayi Maa.

Several dignitaries and industrialists were present on the day. The chief host of the entire event was Shrimati Balaben Rajendrakumar Dhingra from Merath, who began the Guru pujan followed by the rest of the devotees present.