The cultural discrimination experienced by Ladakhi students led
Sonam Wangchuk to start a local movement for educational reforms,
reports Mahesh Bhat

Wangchuk: Reconnecting Ladakh to its roots

Winding mountain roads take you to a valley that seems like it’s in the middle of nowhere. The Indus flows in a deep gorge. Suddenly you see a building far away, huge peaks towering above. It is the campus of the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (secmol), at Phey near Leh, founded in 1988 by Sonam Wangchuk, a young engineer and his peers.

Eversince Ladakh was merged into Jammu and Kashmir in 1947, the official language of Ladakh, like the rest of the state, has been Urdu. Languages of instruction in primary schools are Hindi and Urdu, neither of which are spoken by children here in their daily lives. Children in Ladakh also begin to learn English very late, only five years before their school exams in English. Consequently, the students have difficulty expressing themselves in exams and the failure rate is high. Since independence, the graduation rate in Ladakh has varied from 0 to 5 percent.

Until recently, the quality of teaching was poor and teachers often ridiculed Ladakhi students for being “different”. Elementary school curricula were built
on mainstream Indian motifs and contexts the children did not understand. Teachers were neither trained nor supervised, and this led to corruption of the system. Many teachers ceased conducting their classes altogether and spent their time at a second job. Those who did teach required their students to attend high-fee supplementary sessions.

To bring change at the policy level, Wangchuk organised citizens across the region to monitor school activities

The cultural discrimination experienced in Ladakh has resulted in high failure rates further leading to unemployment. The ensuing economic dissatisfaction has generated feelings of resentment towards the government. Because the people of the region do not identify with Indian culture, they have been vulnerable to political ploys.

Wangchuk grew up in a remote Ladakhi village called Uleytokpo and recieved his basic schooling in Ladakhi. He went on to do his engineering and returned to Ladakh.

Responding to what he sees as a critical need to involve local communities in educating their children according to their own language and way of life, Sonam has organised citizens across the region to monitor and participate in school activities. His approach to educational reform is gradual and non-confrontational. Rather than beginning with an assertion of cultural rights, which can create a deep divide between local people and the authorities, secmol has mobilised citizens to monitor schools, train teachers, and develop an educational system appropriate to their own language and culture.

secmol has adopted a three-tiered localisation strategy to bring about change in the educational system. In creating Village Education Committees, providing teacher training, and introducing language and cultural reforms, it has built an educational model to improve schools in Ladakh.

Beginning with one school in the village of Saspol, on the Srinagar road, secmol started by engaging the villagers themselves in the school system. Wangchuk realised, what brings change at the policy level lay in people’s support and participation. Mitigating the dangerous political situation he was working in, the people also acted as a protective shield against the wrath of the government.

Play Time: A student at the Phey campus

Building on that foundation, secmol then launched Village Education Committees. The villages that want teacher training are asked to pay for it. Each villager contributes a little towards the total amount. These contributions ensure the villagers’ enthusiasm in the process of change and secure their future roles as monitors of the schools. secmol works with the committees and with new teachers to introduce curricula with local motifs and contexts, including new methods in teaching science and math.

According to secmol’s strategy, the training of teachers is accompanied by an emphasis on the inherent flaw in the education system — the foreignness and poor quality of the curriculum. Through Sonam and his team’s advocacy efforts, the government introduced English at the primary level in 1992, a move especially important because there is still no universally accepted version of written Ladakhi.

In 1996, on popular demand, the Hill Council adopted Sonam’s participation model, Operation New Hope, as its official policy for the government schools of Ladakh. Sonam merged the Village Education Councils into Block Education Committees and these further into District Education Committees so that the new, strengthened citizens’ movement could continue to monitor schools.

A milestone in secmol’s work came with the building of a central government residential school at Durbuk village. Everyone in the community put in at least one day’s labour to build the school. Because the buildings were insulated for winter use, they were able to implement a path-breaking change in the educational cycles. While children in Durbuk used to spend their school break in idleness during winters, they now are able to study through this season.

Ingenious: Solar cooker at the Phey campus

The school built by Wangchuk at Durbuk was insulated for winter use which led to a path-breaking change in the educational cycles

Sonam sees a need for good teachers with a strong sense of culture and tradition to bolster the education system in Ladakh. In the residential hostel in Phey, where senior students attending government schools live for a small fee, care is taken to ensure their full development. Sonam provides financial support for those who wish to become teachers. Their education in the hostel goes beyond the school curriculum. They are introduced to Ladakhi culture and heritage, which has been diminishing through outside influences. They also learn life skills. Sonam organises supplementary summer camps for other senior government school students. The resident students manage the hostel.

The campus of secmol at Phey, established in 1994, is now almost completely solar powered. Four arrays of 16-24 panels each generate electricity for lighting and running computers and televisions. Most noteworthy is the use of passive solar heating for warmth in the coldest months of winter. This method is different from active designs, which use circulating water pipes, air blowers, or other moving devices.

secmol buildings are completely independent of conventional heating methods such as firewood stoves or electric heaters. Because of its passive solar design, these buildings have stayed warm and have not needed any external heating in the last 10 years, even when the minimum outside temperatures fell to 25ºc.

In the community kitchen, there are two solar cookers. The passive solar design used for the cookers, saves a lot of money while preserving the environment. There is also a low cost solar water heater. The cost of one 100 litre solar heater is Rs 3,500, whereas commercial ones cost Rs 25,000 for the same capacity.

Looking ahead: A class on solar technology

In 2000, Sonam founded a commercial, income-generating section, Sheyson Solar Earthworks, that benefits from secmol’s years of experience with solar buildings. Sheyson constructs solar buildings on turnkey contracts for private homes, the government, NGOs, and the Army. The profits from Shesyon support educational reform and environmental awareness activities in the region where secmol works. Sheyson has completed many solar projects around Ladakh. In 2005, it built the Army Goodwill Headquarters in Leh. And in the ensuing winter, the Army did not have to spend even a drop of fossil fuel to heat the building.

Sheyson also trains village youth as ‘Barefoot Solar Engineers’. The first batch of four students will join its staff in 2007. Sonam now plans to launch the Shesyon concept in Kargil, Lahaul-Spiti (Himachal Pradesh), Uttaranchal, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, and further afield in Central Asia, Afghanistan, the Northern Areas of Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet in China, Mongolia and other countries in the world.

secmol was funded by its founders in the beginning, and later when its operations increased, it was funded by donors. It is again moving towards self-reliance. Today half of the expenses are met by their own enterprises by the publication of books and teaching aids, eco-tourism, and solar building constructions.