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Teach India: Think local, think Ladakhi
26 Jul 2008, 0503 hrs IST,
Sakshi Khattar, TNN
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It's a
question we all ask: Why don't ministers, bureaucrats and officers enroll their
children in the schools they
run?
Sonam Wangchuk, co-founder
of the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), has the
answer: "With their children safely tucked away in private schools, they have no
stake in government schools. Those with influence have no stake in the system,
while those with a stake have no
influence."
For the past two
decades, Sonam has been working to change that by campaigning for educational
reform in government-run schools in Ladakh and encouraging communities to
reinforce the identity of minority ethnic groups.
After graduating as an
engineer in 1988, Sonam formed SECMOL with his brother and five friends. Back
then, most Ladakhi students failed class X as teachers were poorly trained and
textbooks bad.
One of the flaws
he found in the education system in Ladakh was that the language used was
non-Ladakhi. Children were taught in Urdu up to class VIII and in English for
classes IX and X. "Another factor was that all textbooks, even for early primary
classes, were brought from Delhi and students found examples of unfamiliar
cultures and environments. Most teachers lacked formal training and community
participation was minimal," says
Sonam.
The first intervention
took place in 1991 in Saspol government school with permission from the chief
education officer. The model was so successful that other schools asked for help
and 33 villages came forward to adopt the model, before the newly formed Hill
Council adopted it as an official
policy.
SECMOL started small as
any step towards promoting Ladakhi in those days was viewed by the state as a
separatist move. Once the change was absorbed by the 33-odd villages, Sonam and
his team presented their case to the special advisor to the governor. Impressed,
the advisor ordered the state government to support SECMOL. Following this,
Sonam published his first set of textbooks in Ladakhi, fully sponsored by the
Jammu and Kashmir state board of school education.
In 1994, he devised Operation
New Hope to overhaul the primary education system in government schools. The
objective was to get village communities to participate in the running of
schools through the formation of Village Education Committees. He also wanted to
introduce a child-centred, activity-based and locally relevant approach to early
primary education and train teachers in creative teaching methods. Producing
Ladakh-relevant versions of primary textbooks and teaching material would make
learning more meaningful.
Sonam continues to set up
village education committees, provide teacher training and root for more
educational reforms. His vision: Building an ideal Ladakh school.
http://teach.timesofindia.com/
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