20 Singapore students reach Ratoke to reconnect to roots

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, December 10

A group of 20 Indian-origin students from various universities of Singapore have reached Ratoke village of Sangrur district to reconnect to their roots. The students, whose grandparents had migrated to Singapore, have begun their first social task of painting the Government Primary School in the village.

They will be staying in the village from December 9 to 26. It is being done under project Khwaish, an initiative of the Young Sikh Association (YSA).

“My grandfather Hakam Singh migrated to Singapore from Moga. I have visited the city a few times, but am unaware about the rural life of Punjab. During my 16-day stay here, I will reconnect myself with the real Punjab,” said Sonya, a first year university student.

Besides painting the school, the group will also undertake other necessary work along with the members of the YSA. The non-profit organisation has decided to spend about Rs 15 lakh on the school to provide all facilities. Founded in 2003, the YSA has been selecting government schools in Punjab and renovating them with the funds contributed by members and others from Singapore.

Notably, the school at Ratoke is the only government educational institution where advance booking is done for admission due to its excellent results. At present, the school has 157 students from Classes I-V while 65 students are in pre-nursery.

The 20 students from Singapore reached the village late on Saturday night. They started the work on the school at 8 am today.

“I visited the school in April this year and selected it. We have constructed a library, staff room, toilets and renovated other parts of the school. We advertised in newspapers in Singapore and invited entries from students, who wanted to volunteer for the work,” said Satwant Singh, a founder-member of the YSA.

Sahib Singh, chairman of the school management committee, has vacated his house for the students and made arrangements for cooking of Punjabi food and providing other facilities.

Will stay in Sangrur village till Dec 26

• The students, whose grandparents had migrated to Singapore, reached Ratoke village late on Saturday night and started their first social task of painting the Government Primary School in the village the next morning.
• They will be staying in the village from December 9 to 26
• “All villagers are contributing to making arrangements for the visiting students,” said Surinder Singh, school in-charge.