Sewa: Selfless service
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain the importance of sewa for Sikhs in Britain today.
Key learning points
- Sikhs have many beliefs, but there are three known as 'golden rules'.
- They are to remember God constantly, earn an honest livelihood, and to share with others.
- Selfless Sewa contributes to these principles by ensuring people are never too self important to serve others.
- Sewa may be tan (physical), man (mental), or dhan (material), meaning all Sikhs are able to perform Sewa in some way.
- Examples can include serving at the Gurdwara (tan), offering counselling and advice (man) or through donations (dhan).
Keywords
Dhan - refers to material or financial service
Langar - the community or ‘free kitchen’ in a gurdwara
Man - refers to mental or emotional service
Sewa - helping others selflessly, an important Sikh value
Tan - refers to physical service
Common misconception
Sewa in Sikhi is limited to physical labour, especially tasks like cleaning the Gurdwara, cooking in the langar (community kitchen), or serving food.
Sikhi emphasises that sewa can be of three types: physical service, mental or emotional service or material and financial service.
Teacher tip
Share examples of sewa (selfless service) within your nearest Sikh community.
Licence
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the word to the correct definition.
the name given to female members of the Khalsa
the name given to male members of the Khalsa
a group of Sikhs that have a commitment to following Sikhi
Q2.Using the names Singh or Kaur helped reduce discrimination based on .
Q3.The name Kaur means and is given to female members of the Khalsa.
Q4.Who was Princess Sophia Duleep Kaur Singh?
Q5.What did Princess Sophia Duleep Kaur Singh do during World War I?
Q6.What does the word ‘Singh’ mean in Sanskrit?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.One of the Sikh ‘golden rules’ is to remember constantly, alongside earning an honest living and sharing with others.
Q2.What is sewa?
Q3.What is an example of man sewa?
Q4.Which type of sewa is donating money to charity?
Q5.Dhan sewa is about giving material help, such as money or resources.
Q6.Langar is a community kitchen that provides free to everyone, showing the Sikh value of equality.
To help you plan your 7 religious education lesson on: Sewa: Selfless service, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 7 religious education lesson on: Sewa: Selfless service, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 religious education lessons from the Social justice: how might Sikhs promote equality? unit, dive into the full secondary religious education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.