En­abling the Sikh youth in In­done­sia to learn and im­bibe fun­da­men­tals of the Sikh way of life, the Jakarta based Gur­mat School is play­ing a key role.

Since we don’t live in In­dia, and we are Pun­jabis, it’s not easy to speak and un­der­stand Pun­jabi, read Gur­mukhi and es­pe­cially read Guru Granth Sahib Ji. 

We have to learn from the be­gin­ning. The al­pha­bets are also to­tally dif­fer­ent. How­ever, we have to, be­cause that is who we are, that’s our iden­tity.  Though, we have lim­ited time to study it, we can study from our par­ents at home even though time is short as they work and we have school work.

Well we can also learn in the Gur­d­wara Sahib by ask­ing Gi­ani ji. An­other amaz­ing re­source cen­tre where one can learn Pun­jabi and Gur­bani ba­sics is our Gur­mat School in Jakarta.

I am a Gur­mat school stu­dent.  I have been study­ing here since the Gur­mat School opened some years back. Let me tell you, why Gur­mat school? The classes are con­sis­tent, every week, ex­cept on days like Gur­purab, Vaisakhi and other hol­i­days. The tim­ing and ac­tiv­i­ties are well man­aged so we can pray, study as well as so­cial­ize with other Pun­jabis.

“Let me tell you, why Gur­mat school? The classes are con­sis­tent, every week, ex­cept on days like Gur­purab, Vaisakhi and other hol­i­days. The tim­ing and ac­tiv­i­ties are well man­aged so we can pray, study as well as so­cial­ize with other Pun­jabis.”

The teach­ers are very good, not so strict, we can joke, but when it is class time, we have to be se­ri­ous. We will also get home­work and have ex­ams. Our teach­ers Man­mith Kaur, Nir­mal Kaur and Iqbal Kaur are our guides and men­tors.

The class­rooms are com­fort­able, and the fa­cil­i­ties to sup­port our study are good, such as chairs, ta­bles, white­boards, book­shelves, colour pen­cils and stuff (for the small kids), AC, and more.

We not only learn about Gur­mukhi here, but also about Sikhism and Sikh his­tory. We can also learn shabads, play waja and tabla with Gi­ani ji, broth­ers and sis­ters. 

We have Jathas here, every Gur­mat school stu­dent is di­vided in some group, then, once a month there will be a Kir­tani Jatha. All Jathas han­dle every­thing from Rehras, shabads, trans­la­tion of the shabads, show video about the Sikhism and ex­plain it, Ar­daas, Hukam­nama, So­hila end­ing in Smapti -all by them­selves. Every jatha has kids to teenagers as par­tic­i­pants.

The Gur­d­wara Sahib and Gur­mat School hold so many fun events to sup­port us, such as Com­pe­ti­tion of Knowl­edge about Sikhism (Gur­mat Quiz), Tur­ban Ty­ing Com­pe­ti­tion (from small kids to teenagers), Cook­ing com­pe­ti­tion (we cook Pun­jabi food to­gether with our jatha, such as Roti, daal, sab­hji, and par­shad), also Mini Sam­me­lan and Teens camp.

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Af­ter the stu­dents grad­u­ate Guru Granth Sahib class, Gur­d­wara Sahib and Gur­mat school have Akhandh Path that is read by grad­u­ated stu­dents.