AURORA, ILLINOIS, May 20, 2011: The 10-year-old brothers, Rahul and Rosha Shirahatti, and their sister Riya, 8, took part in a yoga demonstration at this month’s Teacher Appreciation Day put on by Indian families in the Indian Prairie School District.
Around 100 people attended the Guru Vandana 2011, the second annual Teacher Appreciation Day event at the Eola Community Center. Attendees learned about Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh’s Balagokulam, a national organization that has a Naperville and Aurora chapter where Indian children can learn leadership, do activities, help community and learn about their Hindu culture. And the event honored Aurora and Naperville area schools including the Indian Prairie School District and Montessori teachers.
According to Pradeep Raghunath Sirole, program coordinator, in the Hindu culture, a teacher is like a god. “They’re guiding lights,” Sirole said. “… All of the knowledge they learn — science, math or anything, martial arts, music — everything is through a guru or a teacher. So that’s why we expect that the guru is really guiding our kids to a better life.”