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Sikh panel to foot Cambridge bill for chosen five

During their Cambridge stay, the students will have to maintain their Sikh identity. They must not cut their hair short or trim their beard. If they fail to adhere to Sikh tenets, their scholarships will be revoked.

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In a move mirroring 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh’s founding the Khalsa with the Panj Piare — the five chosen disciples — the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has decided to sponsor five Sikh men every year for studying at the University of Cambridge.

During their Cambridge stay, the students will have to maintain their Sikh identity. They must not cut their hair short or trim their beard. If they fail to adhere to Sikh tenets, their scholarships will be revoked.

SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said the students can be from any part of the country and can choose their area of study. The aim is to expose the men to “international education” and make them take pride in Sikhism, Makkar said, while expressing concern at Sikh youth giving up their religious identity abroad.

The SGPC and Cambridge have signed a memorandum of understanding, according to which, every year, five promising students will be sent to the university to pursue PhD and MPhil courses. “The fees and living expenses will be shared equally between the SGPC and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust,” Makkar said. “The university fees for overseas students for doctoral research are £12,768 for courses in science and £9,747 for those in the arts.”

After Cambridge, the students will have to return and serve in SGPC educational institutions for at least five years. “While on one hand this will help our institutions build up core faculty, on the other needy but meritorious students will have gotten the opportunity to study at one of the most prestigious universities of the world,” Makkar said.
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