Representation in schools is an aim of some educators and students from Surrey, which is why the past few weeks have been a time for diverse community members to thrive, with Vaisakhi, Ramadan, Sikh Heritage Month, Easter and Passover all happening at the same time.
April has been recognized as Sikh Heritage Month in B.C. since 2018. It is also the month when Vaisakhi 鈥� a Punjabi harvest festival 鈥� is held.
Gurpreet Kaur Bains, Punjabi teacher and head of Languages department at L.A. Matheson Secondary has been celebrating Vaisakhi with her students for 19 years 鈥� since she first started teaching there 鈥� but over the years, the level of staff and student involvement has reached incredible highs.
鈥淚t started out in a classroom but it became so big that it鈥檚 now the whole school. It used to be a small celebration in our Punjabi classroom in 2004,鈥� Bains recalled.
When the pandemic changed the way classes were taught for a couple years 鈥� and Bains was not able to celebrate Vaisakhi with her students as before 鈥� they shifted their focus.
鈥淒uring COVID, we couldn鈥檛 celebrate Vaisakhi, like get together, hand out food. So we came up with the brilliant idea that the whole idea behind Vaisakhi and Sikh Heritage Month is to contribute to the community.
鈥淲e can keep the education piece and we can keep the making a difference piece.鈥�
This led Bains and some of her students to begin fundraising for the building of a senior care home that prioritizes cultural sensitivity for older adults 鈥� the Guru Nanak Diversity Senior Care Home.
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In 2021, they committed themselves to four years, with a goal of raising $13,000 by the end. The group is already at $11,270 and Bains is confident they will pass their goal. Donations can be made online at
Now, with restrictions in the rear-view mirror, L.A. Matheson and many other schools celebrate Vaisakhi with a day full of cultural foods, dance, mehndi (henna), guest speakers and musical performances while also covering the history and importance of the day.
Bains has transformed her Punjabi classes from the early days by working with the Ministry of Education to include books from Punjabi writers that detail the real history, one she finds is not covered in standard textbooks.
鈥淲hen we learn about the history of World War II, none of those images show up in our books. Where are the Black soldiers? Where are the Sikh soldiers? Not a single picture of a soldier with a turban,鈥� Bains said.
鈥淥ur kids thought, or even I thought growing up, that we weren鈥檛 a part of this history (because) we are made to believe that.鈥�
Changes have and continue to be made, she added, but even a few years ago, students would read through the textbooks and ask her 鈥淲here are we?鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much more to Sikh history than Komagata Maru鈥� even that is half a paragraph in a book,鈥� Bains said.
While Matheson has been celebrating Vaisakhi for nearly two decades, this year is the first time that Elgin Park Secondary has marked the day. It was organized by the school鈥檚 Anti-Racism Committee, headed by Grade 11 student Jasleen Sandhu.
Along with the common cultural pieces like mehndi and Indian foods, Elgin also invited a local Khalsa elementary school to perform Gatka, which is a traditional form of martial arts involving sword fighting.
鈥淎t my school, Elgin, and most of the other South Surrey schools, there鈥檚 not really a large South Asian population amongst the students, so I felt that it was necessary to represent a minority culture,鈥� Sandhu said.
鈥淢y main reason for doing this is I feel like schools should be a place where everyone feels seen and accepted.鈥�
L.A. Matheson also hosted a community Iftar, which is the meal Muslims eat when breaking their fast during the month of Ramadan. It was the first time the school celebrated the month, on the heels of commemorating Eid for the first time last year.
Highlighted at the Iftar was a recent incident at a school in Halifax.
鈥淎 group reached out to me in Halifax 鈥� students, teachers, a wide selection of people. Unfortunately, at a multicultural day event鈥� that鈥檚 meant to celebrate everyone, Palestinian students had decided to rock their Keffiyehs. This (cloth) is a cultural symbol used in a lot of Arab cultures,鈥� Annie Ohana, a teacher at the school, explained to the crowd on Thursday (April 12) night.
鈥淭he students were asked to remove it and then teachers also faced backlash (who) were trying to talk about it.鈥�
To show these students some love, everyone who was gathered at the Iftar wrote postcards that will be sent to Halifax. Ohana described them as 鈥減ostcards of love and solidarity with the basic idea that people鈥檚 identities matter and that we shouldn鈥檛 be criminalizing the Palestinian identity, specifically.鈥�
Displayed in the entrance of L.A. Matheson are posters made by students to educate those who walk by about Eid, Vaisakhi, Sikh Heritage Month and Ramadan, and also includes pictures that Ohana took while on a trip to Palestine with other teachers from around the province earlier this year.
鈥淪ome of the kids said to me 鈥業 might not be able to go there, I might not be allowed to go there鈥� so I made sure to take lots of pictures, of every square inch,鈥� Ohana said, in reference to photos from Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is often violently targeted by Israeli forces during Ramadan, including this year.
Alaa Al Mawas, a student at L.A. Matheson shared how her own and other students鈥� identities 鈥渆mpowered鈥� them to want to see their cultures represented more in schools.
鈥淲hen kids come to you and say 鈥業 don鈥檛 see me in this school and I would love to see us celebrate this鈥� and they even tell you 鈥業f it鈥檚 small, that鈥檚 OK, we have to start somewhere.鈥� And I see that coming from every section of our school now,鈥� Ohana said.
鈥淎bsolutely, at our school we celebrate Easter, there aren鈥檛 a lot of Jews but Passover, Ramadan, Vaisakhi and all of these things are happening at the same time and it鈥檚 absolutely beautiful.鈥�
sobia.moman@peacearchnews.com
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