South Florida Hindu Temple’s Education Program
South Florida Hindu Temple’s (SFHT) education program began even before the temple was ever built.The founders of the temple, while working on the temple project, had already realized the importance of educating our youth with the Principles of Sanatana Dharma that they began classes in the home of Dr. Chander Shaykher, who is the guiding light for the Education program.
His vision of having an education program that is strong in value-based education has come to fruition and continues to grow at a steady rate.
At the temple’s opening, less than 50 students participated in Balvihar classes. Now over 240 students participate. The journey of this growth is overwhelming due to the commitment of sevaks who have given so much of their time and effort for the children of our community.
The program has evolved over the years so that our children spend the first four years of learning the basic principles and values of Sanatana Dharma. In the next four years, they try to understand these concepts and the deeper meaning of our scriptures. Finally, during the last four years, they put into practice the values they have learned by implementing them in their lives.
SFHT’s education program is unique in that it uses books from a variety of Swamis, taking the best available books in the market place for the various ages and evaluating them each year to see if they worked for the children or not. Constant self evaluation is important for our program to be the best it can be.
Our 34 sevaks are the strength of our program, and we truly are blessed to have such a committed group of parents and teenagers who give of their time week after week. Sincere, selfless sevaks are the blessings of SFHT education program. With classes on Sundays and events such as Sports Day, Passage to India, Gita Chanting Competition, and much more, our program is an active program with children from all parts of India.
As we have grown to a level of full capacity, we will be opening a second day to accommodate growing needs. Saturday classes will begin in September and will be held from 3:30 – 4:45 pm for Balvihar and 5:00 – 6:00 pm for language classes.
We would like to give all new students a special discount for registration before the end of May.
To take advantage of this early bird special, please visit www.sfht.org, click on “Resources,” print out the form for Balvihar, complete it, and send it to the address on the third page of the form.
It is indeed a great privilege to be born a Hindu; however, many of us do not know what that means and even fewer of us know how to teach our children the core values of Hinduism. As parents raising our children away from India, it is our DUTY to teach our children about the rich heritage into which they are born. If we do not do our DUTY, then we can’t expect them to value or respect Hindu culture and heritage. In this country, parents have to make the extra effort to ensure their children learn and understand the Rich Hindu Culture or Sanatana Dharma.
Education programs in temples are meant to help parents in this process of raising Good Hindu children. We hope that you will take the first step towards the wonderful experience and make a commitment to your children.
Thoughts on the SFHT’s Education Program:
“Our Culture is Our Identity – To preserve and promote our heritage and rich culture ,there is no other way than to pass it on to our next generation. Balvihar has been instrumental in, not only, doing so for our kids but also has helped in making them confident and extremely proud of being who they are as children with their roots in the land of Sanatan Dharma. I am extremely grateful and gratified to be a part of this valuable Program.”
Vandana Kaul
(Balvihar Teacher & Parent )
“As a parent having grown up in the US, I’m amazed at what my daughters are learning about Hinduism, our culture and traditions. Its helping them truly understand who they are and being proud of their heritage.”
Chirag Patel
(Balvihar Parent)
