DAV
SANSKRITI SCHOOL
of
ARYA SAMAJ
GREATER HOUSTON
By Acharya Praveen
Mission of the DAV Sanskriti School (DAVSS) of Arya Samaj of Greater Houston is premised upon mentoring the
young generation of Indian origin (6-18 yrs) in such
a way that they achieve their full potential- academically, socially,
emotionally, physically and as well as spiritually. Objectives are to create
noble human beings, decent citizens with high moral character with healthy
family and social values, contributing greatly to the society.
To achieve its
objectives the DAVSS curriculum includes:
* ‘Naitik Shiksha’ i.e. Ethics/Morals education
Naitik Shiksha’ primarily imparts
the basic humane values such as truth, non- violence, respect for elderly,
respect for other faiths, civility, compassion, righteousness, and service to the
mankind.
* Hindi, the most spoken national language of
India.
Students are taught
to speak, read, and write the language. Understanding and speaking of Hindi
unites the students from different regions of India. It helps them to connect
with their families, majority of people from India, ancestral culture and
Indian values.
Besides classroom
teachings as per curriculum, other activities and programs are adopted with a
holistic approach to induce Seva & Shraddha in the young students as well as in parents.
Parents are encouraged to join weekly Satsangs and to
undertake any volunteer activity of their choice at the temple. While Satsang educates the parents enabling them to provide an
environment of faith, positive thinking, and pride in Vedic heritage at home,
volunteering sets forth an ideal example for children to give back to the
society. It is relevant to know that all teachers at DAVSS are volunteers. Many
other programs listed below; support our mission.
Arya Youth Mandal( AYM), a youth group of DAVSS, meets once a month to
discuss current topics and matters relating to youth. AYM organizes food drives
for the local charities, annual car wash for the temple and other service
projects such as cleaning and planting. Fund collection for Jeevan
Prabhat (an organization for the under-privileged
children) is organized during winter holidays with the help of Readathon program. Besides raising funds, it encourages all
students to read more. Other ‘Seva’ projects involve
DAVSS’s graduate students’ fraternity. Founded last year, the members of “DAV
Frat” regularly guide and mentor the current students and also teach Naitik
Shiksha classes.
Several competitions
are held year around to excel the students in debates, speech and essay
writings. Since last four years our students have won maximum awards in the
city wide competitions held under auspices of Mahatma Gandhi Library. The Shloka & Essay Competition, a part of the DAVSS
curriculum, is held every year to inspire the students to learn Shlokas and to realize the excellence of Vedic Heritage. The
essay and the Shlokas are selected carefully, keeping
in view the objectives of DAVSS. For example the theme of the essay this year
was ‘The dharma (duties) of a student’ and the selected Bhagvad
Gita Shlokas concerned with the students’ life.
Every Sunday one or
two students speak at the podium in front of the assemblage on any topic of
their choice from topics pre-selected by DAVSS Acharya.
The pre-selected topics this year for example are- ‘DAV Sanskriti
School's contribution to my life’, ‘How has Arya Samaj influenced me and my family’, ‘What I like about
Indian culture’ and ‘Arya Samaj's
contribution to the society’ etc.
Other activities
such as sports, music, dance and picnics are never ignored either. Tennis camps
have been organized and coached by our own graduates in the past. Music and
dance classes present their programs at the stage time to time. Annual picnic
and lock-in keep the children enthusiastic, but nevertheless ever engaged in learning
their culture with games such as ‘Vedic Treasure Hunt’. Today, DAVSS stands foremost as an exemplary
guide to other leading institutions and boasts of several graduated batches.
Over the years a
Hindi & Naitik Shiksha
curriculum has been prepared for DAV Sanskriti School
and adopted by Arya Pratinidhi
Sabha America. For any additional Information, please
contact: Acharya Praveen at davssgm@gmail.com.
2010 Graduates at Yajna
2009 Graduates with parents
Shloka/Essay competition winners
Shloka/Essay competition winners with Teachers/Volunteers
Tree Planting by Arya Youth Mandal at Arya Samaj