Incentivizing Athornan Youth Enrolled At Dadar Athornan Institute

It’s a known fact that Mobedi, as a profession / vocation is undergoing a crisis as never before, due to the dearth of young boys from Athornan families joining priesthood. The number of young boys from Athornan families opting to get admitted to a residential priest training institute, and thereafter to take up Mobedi on a fulltime basis, has diminished to a never before extent. Whilst various legitimate reasons are being cited, what is most important is that the future spiritual sustenance essential for the community is at distinct threat.

It has become need of the hour to create a plan of action that would encourage and motivate Athornan families to enroll their young boys at Dadar Athornan Institute (DAI), the only residential training institute for priests where they would be trained as Sampoorna (Full Fledged) Mobeds, who could in future, provide services to the community, in addition to pursuing vocations of their choice.

DAI (Estb. 1919) by the Athornan Mandal, Mumbai, is the only functional residential priest training institute that provides Zoroastrian youth from Athornan families completely gratis training in religious rites and rituals, as well as arranges for their secular education at the well-known and reputed Dadar Parsi Youths Assembly High School.

With a view to encourage, motivate and incentivize Athornan boys to enroll at DAI, Trustees of ‘Zarin Neville Sarkari Foundation’ (ZNSF) situated at Denver, USA have, in collaboration with The WZO Trust Funds (WZOTF) and DAI, formulated a scheme to incentivize Athornan families to enrol young eligible boys into DAI as boarders for the duration of their religious and secular education studies, up to completion of secondary levels, i.e. Std X (SSC) or XII (HSC). As per the scheme:

An amount of Rs.60,000 per annum will be invested every year by WZOTF, for each Athornan boy enrolled at DAI, who only after completing the full term of studies at DAI will be eligible to receive the amount plus compound interest accrued over the years.

To illustrate: A boarder who has enrolled in the Std I, upon leaving DAI after completing the full course of studies up to Std X / Std XII, will receive:

Rs. 600,000: (Principal amount @ Rs.60,000 per annum),

Rs. 230,947: (Notional interest compounded @ 7.05%per annum).

Rs. 830,942: Total

It is clarified that to be eligible for receiving the above incentive, the student enrolled at DAI should have completed their full tenure of both – secular education (Std. X or Std. XII) as well as completed training of Navar & Maratab at DAI. Boarders leaving DAI midway will not be eligible to receive any amount from this scheme.

It is further clarified that the interest worked out is on an assumed basis of the approx. rate of interest currently prevalent and is only for illustration purposes. The actual interest will depend on the interest earned on the corpus created for this purpose. In addition to the actual interest earned, the sum of Rs. 60,000/- per annum, during the course of his stay at DAI, will be an assured sum to be received by the young Sampoorna (Full Fledged) Mobed.

It remains our fond hope that Athornan families will realize that efforts have been consistently on over the years to upgrade incomes of our Mobed Sahebs and will participate in extending support by admitting their wards to DAI where they will be trained to become Sampoorna (Full Fledged) Mobeds who would serve the spiritual needs of our community.

It is our endeavour to ensure that we as a community have adequate number of Mobeds to serve our religious needs, for which we sincerely request all Athornan and Behdin families to extend a helping hand by kindly sharing details of the scheme with Athornan families they may know who have young boys eligible for admission to DAI.

From:

Dinshaw K. Tamboly, Chairman, The WZO Trust Funds

Dr. Er. Ramiyar P. Karanjia, Principal, Dadar Athornan Institute

Dasturji Khurshed Dastoor, President, Athornan Mandal

[Dated: 9th September 2024]