The Shepparton classes of the Victorian School of Languages came together on Saturday, August 13 to celebrate Indian Independence Day.
While the holiday is commemorated on August 15, students from the school’s language classes joined at the Greater Shepparton Secondary College after their weekly sessions to celebrate and learn about the history of the day.
Hindi educator Arunabha Banning said the event “couldn’t have gone better”, with about 100 attendees.
“It was a really unique experience for the students,” she said.
“Because even if they were in India, they would not have had this experience of having the Malayalam class, with the Punjabi class, with the Hindi class, because they're in such such far-flung regions.
“It was a show of unity, coming together to celebrate their one nation.”
The day signifies India’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, in which India became a democratic country after almost 200 years under British rule.
“It is incredibly important for children to learn about this relatively recent history ... (which) impacts upon not only themselves as children and their identity,” she said.
“It helps them to understand the history around a lot of the nuances of their culture.”
The VSL offers classes in Sinhalese, Arabic, Hindi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Mandarin, Albanian, Turkish, Urdu and Persian on Saturday mornings for students aged Prep to Year 12, hosted at GSSC.
Mrs Banning said the program had proved “incredibly valuable”, allowing children to learn their native language to keep in touch with their cultural roots.
VSL is currently taking enrolments; for those interested, contact nataliak@vsl.vic.edu.au