“Path of Joy” – Preschool to Primary Grade 4
Kasoa, Central Region of Ghana
By Didi Ananda Gunamaya
The inauguration was attended by about 50 people, including members of the local community as well as teachers, parents and children of the Lotus School in Accra, which is 15 km away. The programme began with a talk by Dada Krsnasundarananda about the purpose of education, in which he explained the EDUCATION acronym.
‘Education is to enlarge the mind 360 degrees so there are no compartments in the mind, such as racial or linguistic differences. We are all human beings. If an individual is not moral, s/he is lacking the base. If we lose money, nothing is lost, if health is lost, something is lost, but if character is lost, everything is lost. All, inanimate and animals are members of our universal family’
DESMEP (discipline, etiquette, smartness, morality, English, pronunciation)
Universal Outlook
Character
Active Habits
Trustworthiness
Ideation of the Great
Omniscient Grace
Nice Temperament
After Dada’s inspiring talk, the children from the Lotus Children’s Center presented ‘The Fairy’s Flower’ – a play about the 10 moral basic principles – and also performed two local dances from the Ewe and the Ashanti tribes.The audience of 50 people was amazed to see how our children were able to perform and they even interrupted the dramatization to applaud.
The Social Welfare Director also gave a speech on the importance of education for young children. The chairman of the inauguration, Papa Shriidhar reminded all that the land the school is on today was lying vacant for seven (7) years before Didi Ananda Gunamaya came to work dynamically on the structure despite much suffering and challenges for eleven years. “She has done it so that in this place, we will educate tomorrow’s leaders.”
In her vote of thanks, Didi expressed special gratitude to those members of the organization who selflessly contributed to making this big dream a reality. “The same One giving challenges is the One holding our hand to overcome them. So, my biggest thanks are to God, because He has given those challenges for us to grow and be where we are today”. Didi presented to the dignitaries a booklet she wrote about education based on her experience in Ghana, and also requested support from the local community.
Narrative from the Teachers of the Lotus Children’s Center
The head teacher from Lotus said that she has re-learned how to teach since she started with us teaching the Kindergarten (4-5 year olds). She witnessed kids who were not interested in study changing to the point that after school they would cry to their mothers asking to go back to school; so happy to be in school.
After all, we used lots of play way to impart academic subjects, so we were able to go deeper and even introduced topics that were taught for kids 3 years older in other schools. They also became very calm due to meditation and vegetarian food.
We called on the public to bring any paper with any text for our six years old students from Lotus to read. As they read them perfectly, one of the guests commented that it was the standard of a 10-year-old. This guest was an experienced headmaster of an educational institute in Ghana.
Narrative from the Parents of the Lotus Children’s Center
A mother of a child from Lotus Center said she loved the institution very much because her child had strengthened her emotional and intellectual abilities in the school.
Sometimes I get very surprised at how she can read and mention things that even class three (3) students cannot pronounce. They use lots of learning materials to teach.
Sometimes my daughter (6 years old) finds it difficult to complete her homework, but anytime I try to offer a helping hand, she will say – ‘no, don’t teach me, I can do it myself’. And truly, she does answer every question herself.
The school activates the students’ brain, improves their physical health, feeds the children very well with a well-balanced diet that improves their mental capability to learn.
Most of schools we found in the area do not feed the kids properly, which at times leads to complaints of the stomach and other parts of the body by the kids. But my daughter has never complained of such. She’s always happy with her feeding, which includes the intake of fruits and other healthy stuffs. (The Lotus Free Breakfast Programme is sponsored by AMURTEL, Italy)
‘The teachers are very dedicated to the handling of children, no matter how challenging it is. I encourage parents to bring their wards to this new Ananda Marga School, they will have a bright future”.
Closing of the Inaugural Programme
The local community was introduced to a silent meditation at the end of the programme, followed by distribution of vegetarian kebabs and local hibiscus drinks.