Families

For The People Who Carry Each Sikhiyasi.

A young person reads the main site for themselves. A parent, guardian, spouse, or elder reads it for someone they love. The questions are different. The answers, in this section, are arranged for the person doing the carrying.

I. Three Doors

Most family enquiries route through one of three pages. Pick the one that matches where you are right now.

II. Where To Begin

If your applicant is sixteen or seventeen, begin with the Under-18 page — the design, mentor structure, and safeguarding architecture for that cohort are materially different from the rest of the programme, and that page exists specifically for the conversations a parent will need to have.

If your applicant is between eighteen and twenty-five, begin with the For Parents general guide. The decisions are the same four — institution, design, money, communication — but the pastoral structure relaxes appropriately.

If your applicant is twenty-six or older and you are a partner, spouse, or supporting family member rather than a parent, the For Parents page is still the right starting point — and the Professional Cohort section of the Scholarship Details page describes the design that applies at that age.

III. The Four Concerns We Hear Most

Compiled from the first conversations we have had with families, in the order families have raised them:

• SafetyFully addressed on the Under-18 page for sixteen-and-seventeen-year-olds, and in the safeguarding sections of For Parents and the FAQs for older cohorts. Named Safeguarding Lead, Independent Ombudsperson outside the Directors' line, comprehensive insurance with evacuation cover.
• MoneyFully addressed on the Scholarship Details page. Indicative ranges, four scholarship bands, no hidden fees. Sikhiyas is fee-funded, not donations-funded.
• AuthenticityThe About page and the Implementing Partners page set out the institutional architecture. Three decades of EduCARE field experience, named Directors and Patrons, named Ombudsperson — all open to direct verification.
• Religious pullA genuine concern for many diaspora families. Addressed directly in section VII of the For Parents page. Sikhiyas is built to refuse the pull, not to apply it.

IV. The Conversation We Always Recommend

Whether your applicant is sixteen or thirty-six, whether you are a parent or a spouse, the practical first step we recommend is the same: a half-hour exploratory video call with a Diaspora Coordinator, with you and your applicant both present, with no commitment of any kind. The first conversation is exploratory. We have held more first conversations than admissions, by a significant margin, and we are not in a hurry.

The Diaspora Office answers within seven working days. The Safeguarding Lead and Independent Ombudsperson — for matters that warrant their direct attention — answer within twenty-four and forty-eight hours respectively. Full response-time commitments are on the Contact page.

V. One Quiet Suggestion

If your applicant is between sixteen and twenty-five, the most useful question you can hold quietly with them — and bring openly to the first conversation — is one we have written about in detail elsewhere on the site. We will not repeat it here, because it carries more weight on its own page than as a paragraph among others.

It is on the For Parents page, section VI. If you read nothing else before the first conversation, read that.