The World Peace Mission Trust came into being in the year 1991. The Trust is engaged in the education of the most needy -yet most deprived- section of the society i.e. the children of poor construction workers as well as maids/domestic servants. These poor workers donot have the wherewithal and resources to send their wards to regular schools in the beginning for the threshold education.
The Trust is now steadfastly carrying on the lamp lighted by the pioneer founders in the year 1991, by spreading the scope and area of education to these poor children thus bringing them in the main stream and helping them become good citizens. From just two Literacy Centres in the beginning, the Trust is running 10 Literacy Centres today. On an average, a Literacy Centre caters to about 40 children looked after by a dedicated teacher. Besides this for dress designing centres are also being run where 100 women are given free training.
The World Peace Mission Trust came into being in the year 1991. The Trust is engaged in the education of the most needy – yet most deprived – section of the society i.e. the children of poor construction workers as well as those of maids, domestic servants, rickshaw pullers, etc. These poor people don’t have the wherewithal and resources to send their wards to regular schools in the beginning for the threshold education.
Also, generally speaking these poor people don’t have much inclination towards education and that is why often elder children tend to look after their younger siblings knowing little or nothing about education. One more factor of their lack of interest is that these people keep on moving from one place to another in search of work. It is where the role of the Trust starts. We pick up the children from their huts/residences and persuade them to come to our Literacy Centres. The Trust is catering to the underprivileged children of these workers who normally reside near the construction sites or the peripheral villages of Chandigarh and Mohali.
As on date, about 400 children are receiving education at our 10 Literacy Centres. At these Centres, we provide them elementary education in the subjects of English, Mathematics & Hindi besides many extracurricular activities. After the children pick up adequate knowledge in these subjects, we make them to join regular Government schools by coordinating with the government authorities. Normally, a child spends between 6 months to 12 months at the Literacy Centre before moving to the regular school.
Note: As in July 2020, the activities of the Trust remained halted since March, 2020 in view of Government directives to keep the educational institutions closed during the pandemic Covid19. We will resume the activities once the Government allows the opening of these institutions.
This Trust was founded by late Sardar Avtar Singh. He espoused the cause of world peace. His ideas drew appreciation from luminaries such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama; ex-PM Inder Kumar Gujral and many other dignitaries. He wrote in English, Urdu and Gurmukhi on means to alleviate the suffering of humanity and reached out to world leaders such as UN Secretary General U Thant. He had a dream – “a boundaryless word” which seems so much of a reality as of today. He spoke of cutting down expenditure on the armies and arsenal by Nations of the world and instead, advocated for investing in the education and poverty alleviation.
He was a man of remarkable mathematical agility and had knowledge of Vedic Mathematics. He was an astronomer who knew the cosmic world and could comment on Dr Stephens Hawking’s Big Bang Theory. He was a keen trekker and a swimmer of repute. He loved playing Chess, mind games and solve puzzles. His book in English titled “How to shed worries in 24 hours” was extremely popular. A simple man with noble thoughts, lofty ideals and austere manners, he was a one-man crusader till he met likeminded people in Shri J.R. Shastri, Prof. Surinder Suri and Prof. Nirmal Dutt in 1990-91. Thus, began the journey of a thousand miles. The footprint was cast when various make shift schools for construction workers were organized. These schools were run for children whom even the Government schemes could not reach. We fondly remember him each year on his death anniversary by celebrating the occasion as our “Founder’s Day”.
(Note: Unfortunately, we missed celebrating the Founder’s Day in April, 2020 owing to onset of pandemic Covid19. Nevertheless, we rededicate ourselves to his lofty ideas and again resolve to carry forward his mission as always). With each passing year, we draw inspiration from this noble man and rekindle our resolve to espouse and further his vision and rededicate ourselves to the Mission with renewed energy and vigour. May the journey of this boundaryless traveler to touch humanity continue.
