South Africa Hindu School Imparts Culture And Human Values

September 30, 2004

SOUTH AFRICA, May 16, 2004: Six months before his department closed, Dr.

Bisraam Rambilaas, former head of Sanskrit at the University of

Durban-Westville, invested his money in the establishment of

KwaZulu-Natal's only Hindu school. Westville Hindu Primary School, which he

runs himself, is unique in that it offers Indian Studies in a structured

formal syllabus. "We're Hindus, but we're also South Africans," says

Rambilass. "We teach conversational Hindi and simple Sanskrit alongside

Zulu, but we also treat Afrikaans as an academic subject. By making these

Indian languages and culture an integral part of mainstream education,

we're equipping our pupils with a cultural identity relevant to modern

South Africa. We're not caught up in any fundamentalism." Westville Hindu

Primary School began in January, 2000, with nine students. Now there are 50

pupils, six full-time teachers for academic subjects, part-time teachers

for dance, music, yoga, meditation and computer studies, and professional

coaches for sports. "We also teach our pupils to play the harmonium, simple

yoga postures and elementary meditation. They mainly meditate by chanting

and lying still," says Rambilass. "This has an educational as well as

religious significance, because meditation focuses the mind and plays an

important part in concentration," he adds. Rambilass is an internationally

known scholar with a PhD in Sanskrit.

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