SSE Guidelines

His Life and Legacy

The Program

This program promotes

  • Unity of All Religions
  • Human Values – like Truth, Peace, Love, Righteousness, and Non-Violence
  • Ceiling on Desires
  • The elements contained in the name of SAI:
    • S=Service. The students are expected to participate in organized Service activities throughout the year.
    • A=Adoration. This is implemented in the form of Bhajan learning incorporated in the weekly lessons.
    • I=Illumination. These are the actual lesson plans through which the Human Values are imparted each week.

Aim

The phrase ‘Bal Vikas’ means ‘blossoming of the child’.
Accordingly, rules, regulations, and a course syllabus have been developed in order to enhance the blossoming of “truth, beauty and goodness” (Satyam, Sivam, and Sundaram) in children.
The aims of the SSE program are:

  • To foster the understanding and practice of the five inherent human values of Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Love and Nonviolence.
  • To foster character development and spiritual transformation in students 6-18 years of age.
  • To inculcate habits of discipline and self-discipline so that students learn to be masters of the mind and not slaves; have control over sense organs and practice ceiling on desires.
  • To cultivate humility, and to engender in students a desire to be of service to all humanity.
  • To train students to be able to discriminate between right and wrong, between truth and non-truth; that is, to follow always the inner promptings of the Divine Conscience.
  • To help children to be fully aware of the Unity underlying all faiths and all mankind.
  • To guide all children to have Purity and Harmony in Thought, Word, and Deed.
  • To give priority to the development of character, self-confidence, and self-sufficiency.

Schedule and Structure

  • Our SSE program runs each year from the 2nd Sunday in September until the 2nd Sunday in May.
  • The year is divided into 4 quarters in all Sai centers across the country. For some, like ours, the summer is a non-teaching quarter.
  • Classes are held at the Sai Center every Sunday from 10:00 am-Noon.
  • The first half-hour is devoted to Bhajan learning and singing, followed by a 90-minute class in Groups.
  • Each year a unique theme is followed to teach Human Values.
  • This theme is the basis of all lessons and activities, followed by all groups of SSE.
  • The theme is further simplified into a quarterly Objective, uniform for all groups of SSE.

Admission Requirements

This program is run by volunteers.

Admission is open to girls and boys, 6-18 years of age.
Classes are conducted at different group levels, depending on the age of the student.

Group 1: Ages 6-8
Group 2: Ages 9-11
Group 3: Ages 12-14
Group 4: Ages 15-17

Fee: There is no fee for admission to this program or supplies.

Supplies: A binder is supplied to each student entering the program.