Hindu cultural, moral and spiritual values for the children of our community
The IACC&T Bal Vikas program dates back to early 2001. IACC&T has been very fortunate to have several groups of dedicated volunteers who have devoted a lot of energy and time to teaching children from the community a basic understanding of Hinduism, our cultural heritage, and teachings from the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata.
IACC&T is proud to continue its focus on educating children, who are the future caretakers of what the community has built. The program was re-established with a deep commitment by several volunteers, most notably Pratima Kotekal, Sujatha Krishnamurthy and Poonam Ghullia. The IACC&T Board greatly appreciates their dedicated efforts, as well as the support of many others involved with Bal Vikas.
Bal Vikas was started to instill and develop Hindu cultural, moral and spiritual values in our young children. We cordially invite parents to enroll their children ages 4 to 12 – it is the best investment we can make in educating our children.
On Sundays when no Satsang is scheduled, an additional half-hour is spent teaching the Devanagari script (used in Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi and other languages).
The program is divided into three segments:
Prayers, selected shlokas and bhajans. The children sing bhajans at Satsangs.
Festivals, moral stories, the golden rules of Dharma, and important places in India.
Educational games, puzzles, coloring, painting, drawing, clay models (e.g. Ganesha), cards for special occasions, yoga asanas and Surya Namaskar.
Teaching is led by Pratima Kotekal, Sujatha Krishnamurthy and Poonam Ghullia. Several parents help with story-telling, yoga asanas, Surya Namaskar, bhajans and games, and guests have given talks about festivals in India. Parents and children are encouraged to suggest topics, prayers and stories for class discussions.
Note: to receive messages sent to the Bal Vikas enrollee group, please contact Sujatha Krishnamurthy.
We have been very lucky to be part of this community and of the Bal Vikas program – in a small community like this it is essential that our kids do not forget their roots and the heritage they have inherited, and this program enables that. Thank you for all that you do for the community and the kids; my hope is to see this program flourish in the future.
Previously discussed
Topics for future classes
For information on the Temple Fund Raising Initiative, please contact Brij Bhargava: (269) 375-6474
All donations made to the temple are tax deductible.