GURGYAN FOUNDATIONS
OUR INSPIRATION
SMT GYAN KAUR & SARDAR GURNAM SINGH
about gurgyan foundations
Sardar Gurnam Singh
Sardar Gurnam Singh (1921 – 1996), was born in a relatively prosperous and influential family in a village in Punjab (India). After his graduation in Arts and in Teaching, he straight plunged into Teaching Profession – not so much sought after in India at that time or now. It was his passion for Teaching that kept him wedded to it for long 56 years of his life. During this period he served at various schools before retiring as District Education Officer. His passion to teach continued even after his retirement and a lot many of his new and past students thronged to him for advice – which was freely coming forth. I have yet to see a person, who after meeting him has not plunged or re-plunged into educating himself. He was a life long LEARNER.
Smt. Gyan Kaur
Smt. Gyan Kaur (1924 – 1993), though not formally educated beyond the 5th Standard as was the wont of the then Punjab, was extremely appreciative of the value of education. While Sardar Gurnam Singh held the fort outside the doors of their small home, she staunchly guarded and nurtured it from the inside – constantly imbibing the values of culture and education in her children and nephews and nieces. Her home was a welcome place for many from her relations from both sides. In all her endeavors she was passionate, dedicated, and supportive of others. Not content with ably doing her work as home maker, she added to the family food and financial resources by rearing small poultry and dairy works – albeit at small scale.
GURGYAN FOUNDATIONS
Back Ground
Gurgyan Foundations is set to take forward the values and culture of its two inspiration fountain heads - GURnam Singh and GYAN Kaur. As must be obvious the name of the Foundation derives from the combination of part names of its inspirers. In the Punjabi language it also means the - knowledge gained at the feet of the GURU. It was founded in 2010 as an Associate Organisation of Sarup Singh Sewa (Service) Society established in 2005. More on the activities of the SSSS can be seen at the 'SSSS' Tab in the Top Menu of this Website.
Legal and Financial
Gurgyan Foundations established in 2012, is registered as a Non-profit Company under the Company's Act 1983, Govt. of India. The Foundation has been granted Tax Exemption Certificate under Sections 12 A (a) and Section 80 (G) of the Indian Income Tax Act 1961. All legal and financial filings of the Foundation are current and in full compliance. The Main Object of the Foundation is 'to promote, develop, deliver, monitor and regulate the training in the field of education and sports to all'.
Foundation is also listed with the Economic and Social Council of the UNO and will be applying for the Consultative Status.
Physical Facilities: Land & Buildings
As the Foundation is focussed on education and related activities in the rural areas particularly, it has the facilities spread over about 3 acres of land in the State of Punjab, Union of India. The built up facility is a building with unique charcter and was designed by Shivjit Sidhu, an Architect endowed with creative and out of the box thinking. This will be born out by the adjoining Perspective of the Building. Only part covering about 5500 Sq Ft is constructed and occupied. With in the facility a fully oprational Pre-primary and Primary School is run for the children from the nearby villages.
Physical Facilities: Class Rooms
Six Classrooms including one large Activity Room and small Pantry is housed in the said building. Class rooms are fitted with adequate facilities such as physical taeching aids and ergonomically designed furniture. The activity room has the audio-visual equipments and provides a large covered assembly place for the attendees. Activity room also has the physical models of Bank, Library Petrol Pump etc. for qucik perception by the children of the physical shape of the commonly seen places in real life.
Class Rooms are fitted with CCTV to encusre safety and security of all children, as well as for remote monitoring of the activites at the Building.
Physical Facilities: School Buses & Power Backup
Over the years Three Mini Buses have been procured. These are used for the children transport as well as for the out station activities. Being in rural areas, the regular sources of power are not reliable. To overcome this difficulty, a stand by Generator is procured, that powers the essential equipment such as computers and CCTV during failure of the regular supply
MILESTONES
2010: Foundation Stone
Foundation Stone for the new uniquely designed building named GVTECH, was laid by the then Minister for Food & Civil Supplies, IT and Consumer Affairs, Govt. of Punjab. Sideways are some moments of Unveiling of the Foundation Plaque and of the dignitaries on the Stage
2012: Inauguration
First Phase of the GVTECH Building was completed in 2012, providing about 5500 Sq Ft of the covered space. Inspite of the complicate Architectural Design and the paucity of expertise in construction and supervision in rural areas, the TEAM did excellent work both in timely completion and quality of the work. Pictures show Chief Guest with Press and one view of the Building
2014: Annual Function & Career Guidance
Gurgyan Foundations celebrated its first annual function in 2014. It was a moment of great rejoice for all stakeholders, particularly the Teachers, Students and their Parents. In this year a Career Awareness Workshop was also conducted by Godrej Appliances. Pictures on side capture the moments.
2020: The Year of Lockdown & A Year of Innovations
In February 2020 The Maple Kidz & The Maple Primary celebrated its 7th Founder’s Day – a few days before the Corona Virus struck. The complete lock-down in India was declared from 23rd March. Our Teachers working with the Parents of Children, devised participative online systems to keep children engaged with their learning experiences. Pictures on side capture the moments – FAMILY DAY was celebrated AT HOME
CURRENT ACTIVITIES
Maple Kidz Pre-Primary
Inspired by Former President of India, Shri APJ Abdul Kalam slogan of PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) we started this venture to provide Urban Like foundational education at our GVTECH building in a rural area of Punjab State. Children travel time to and from School has been reduced by over 80%. And they get the Urban Like Education at 25% of the costs for similar facility. This was one way to meet the aspirations of over 100 Families and their children.
Maple Primary
On insistence of parents, we finally decided to launch Maple Primary in 2019. Our experience was that some children after three years at our Pre-primary facility, were not able to continue their learning at same level due to the long travel and high costs. We are growing this facility in organic manner, rather than sudden introduction of all primary classes. We are now in the 2nd year of our experiment. Due to the COVID Pandemic the instructions are online – taking care to avoid over exposure of small children. Teachers also take abundant precaution.
Education Delivery System (EDS)
This outcomes based experiment is conducted by Sarup Singh Sewa Society (SSSS) with our inputs from time to time. Students of 5th Standard onward from the local Public School are randomly taken for special focused attention. Their performance during the two years of this program is decidedly better than their peers in Public School. More details of this are under the Tab ‘SSSS’.
Get in touch!
- gsg@gurgyanfoundations.org
- +919820138322
- 904, A Wing Shelton Sapphire, CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai, 400614