overview

This is the period of doing and making. “Start Early, Drive slowly, Reach safely” is our Swami’s Divine Dictum. With this in view, children are inducted into this program at an early age of 5 years. When seeds of Human excellence are sown at a young age, they become rooted in values, remember and follow these throughout their lives. At this stage, the child wants to do and make things; hence the focus by the Balvikas guru is on pictorial demonstrations, games, charts, group activities, role plays and attitude testing, group singing, storytelling, prayers, silent sitting, rather than on mere lecturing.

This is the stage of making and planning. The foundation laid at the Group I stage starts taking a shape here. At this stage, the student is not happy with mere stories, songs and group games; the student needs much more than to meet his imagination and curiosity. He needs food for thoughts; so the five techniques are oriented to help him master his mind, control his senses and develop the 5 Ds and thus the foundation of harmony of the word and deed is laid. At the Group-II level, the focus of the Bal Vikas guru therefore, shifts in order to keep the children’s interest and imagination alive.

This is the age of planning and achieving. The application of values in real life situations starts in the true sense at this age. The student at this level wants a practice ground, to test what they have learnt. Therefore, the Guru provides the student with ample opportunities to practice what they have learnt and imbibed in the class, at camps or even in the organizational activities through projects and seminars. At the Group-III level, the guru is more than a mother and teacher. She does the role of a friend, a confidante of the student, keeping the needs of the student in mind.

• The ideal of Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas is to raise a generations of boys and girls who have a clean and clear conscience.
• Here the stress and focus is therefore not on dumping too much of information but only on bringing about an intrinsic transformation within.
• As a corollary, the results are not seen merely as progress cards and assessment sheets; contrarily the results are intangible and are observed through significant changes in the children’s day to day behavior resulting in harmony within and around the child.
• A child who regularly participates in the Balvikas program without missing the weekly classes is bound to bring about positive behavioral changes and attitudinal reflections as shown below:

The above highlights are only the key aspects of the transformation expected of the child at each level of this structured divine program and not an exhaustive list. The broad objective of Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas therefore is to enable each child

• to develop human values
• to develop the skills needed to put these values into daily practice and
• thereby promote personal, family, community and national harmony

“The Bal Vikas classes are thus conducted as a part of the Global Mission of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations to direct the children of today – the torch bearers of tomorrow’s society, into the path of self enquiry and self discovery and hence done as a seva and no fee is charged for the Balvikas classes.”

Also, a Diploma in Sri Sathya Sai Education is awarded to the children at the end of the 9 year program when they attend the classes regularly and complete the entire 9 year course.

[Image reference: Sai Spiritual Education Teacher’s Manual, USA – 3rd edition, Revision 20211]