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Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, January 12
In 2014, Government Girls Primary School, Rurka Kalan, started celebrating ‘Dhiyan di Lohri’ (Lohri of daughters). This year, a congregation of 800 to 900 people celebrated the ‘Dhiyan di Lohri’ at the school. Among the oldest schools, along with Government Primary School, Nathewal, and Mianwal, of the region to start celebrating the festival to honour girls, the celebrations at the Rurka Kalan school are now a huge affair.
Frequented by MPs, MLAs and ministers and broadcast recently on Doordarshan as well, Rurka Kalan’s ‘Dhiyan di Lohri’ has now been grown to the status of a Lohri mela dedicated to the honour and celebration of the girl child. The awareness and celebrations also help in getting monitory benefits and assistance for the school. All newborn girls in the village now get free clothes and utilities — courtesy the school, with the help arranged from NRIs.
Boota Ram, in-charge of the Rurka Kalan school, who began the trend in 2014, says: “Earlier, only our school was celebrating Lohri. But this year, it was celebrated jointly by the boys’ school and our school in the area. We have celebrated Lohri of 21 newborn girls. Last year, we had celebrated the birth of 19 girls. For us this has become a kind of ‘welfare investment’ as the same girls start attending nursery classes at the school. We are also arranging sponsorships for clothes for all newborn children in the village and free uniforms for girl students who have been studying at the school. Three big shops in the area sponsor them. While Chaudhary Santokh Singh came to us last year, the DEO came in 2017.”
Boota Ram said the owner of the palace where the Lohri annual function is being held was also a former student of the village primary boys school. He had allowed free celebrations for one day in honour of the girl students.
“NRIs and local supporters are also extending help to us to make the celebrations bigger each year,” he said.
While the Lohri mela also honours women achievers in the region, anganwadi workers and principals were honoured this year. The school has also launched another programme wherein girl achievers and toppers of the school are honoured during the annual function at the palace.
Mianwal school celebrating since 2006
Government Primary School, Mianwal, has also been celebrating Lohri for girls since 2006, albeit at the village level. The school held ‘Dhiyan di Lohri’ by distributing Lohri sweets, including gacchak, rewris, among girl students and also holding a cultural programme for them this year. While many in the village are still not celebrating the birth of a girl child, Khaira says he was trying to change that.
Harjinder Singh Khaira, who is also one of the primary teachers in the state, who received an appreciation letter from the state government yesterday, said: “The idea is to bring a change in the mindset of people. We started it at the school level and continue to hope the celebrations will impact people. At present, we have 70 students of whom 34 are girls. ‘Dhian di Lohri’ is an effort to encourage them and make them feel special.”
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