Kirtan may be introduced in Ontario schools

AMRITSAR: Kirtan and classical music can soon become part of curriculum of schools and colleges of Canada’s

Ontario

province after

Ravinder Kaur Tuli

of Maadho Music Kirtan Training Academy took up the matter with province’s ministry of education. The ministry has already announced to include Sikh heritage in schools’ curriculum.

Talking to TOI on Monday, Ravinder, who is currently in India on her ambitious project of offering free kirtan training to young girl inmates of an Amritsar-based orphanage, stated that she had taken up the issue both with the ministry of education, Ontario, and management of few colleges to include the component of kirtan and classical music in their curriculum. The Sikh heritage curriculum is being prepared with the help of Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada and a few professional organizations, which could be introduced in primary schools by September.


Brampton-based Ravinder, wife of tech tycoon and Datawind CEO Suneet Tuli, has partnered with California-based

Anantvir

Singh to launch Maadho Music Kirtan Training Academy, which teaches kirtan and classical music to young students from diverse cultures and ethnicities.

Anantvir belongs to the family of

Hargobind Mattu Bhai Ke

and is the seventh generation of ‘kirtani’ from the court of seventh Sikh master Guru Hargobind.

“Our students are both in Canada and the US. We have decided to provide free training of kirtan to girls of the Bhai Dharam Singh Khalsa Charitable Trust, an orphanage which is home to over 250 girls, and give daswandh (one-tenth) of academy’s earning to pay for musical instruments and teachers,” said Ravinder, adding that they had already donated musical instruments and tablets required for training.

To add, Suneet said he would donate tablets to girls and introduce them to different apps that teach the theory of classical music. “We are also setting up smart classrooms at the orphanage,” he said.