Educational Newsletter No. 17 December 2010
Feeder Primary Schools Established
In Spiti's outlying villages, including the better connected ones,
never mind the really remote settlements, a reasonable standard of even primary
level education has always been lacking. Over the past decade and a half the
Rinchen Zangpo Society's Munsel-ling School in Rangrik has helped quite a few
children from these villages get their education off to a good start by taking
them in as boarders. It is not satisfactory for children as young as five years
old to live in a hostel far away from their families in order to attend school,
except that there was no alternative — until this year. Now our society has
opened feeder pre primary schools in four focal Spiti villages, Losar, Kibber,
Key and Sangnam. Another pre primary class has opened in Kaza, the Spiti
headquarters. A total of 73 children are attending these day schools with two
teachers teaching in each. There are 150 children already studying at our
previously established branch day school in Kaza. All being well the new schools
will become primary schools in future, children will learn their ABC while
living at home and Munsel-ling School will be relieved of
the
responsibility of 24-hour care of so many very young children and be able to
concentrate more on educational matters. Also these schools create employment
opportunities where teachers can work closer to their home instead of having to
move away to find work.
The number of children enrolled in our society's education
programme has continued to increase steadily year by year. There are now 821
students altogether! There are 507 at Munsel-ling School and 314 elsewhere,
including those who are being supported on their way through college. In this
way with the kind help of many people we are methodically expanding the scope of
our activities to meet the needs and aspirations of our youth. Four new schools,
a great step forward.
The
Jan Shikshan Sansthans are Institutes of People's Education that focus on those
who have been bypassed by mainstream education. They are the creation of the
central Indian government's Ministry of Human Resource Development and all staff
and infrastructure are fully funded by them. They offer literacy and vocational
training without charging for it or insisting on age limits and prior
qualifications. They reach out either to those in the urban backstreets or rural
backwaters to offer skill enhancement, outlook formation training, vocational
training, and inputs for those below the poverty line. The Rinchen Zangpo
Society for Spiti Development can take pride in being the only organization in
the whole state of Himachal Pradesh (population six million) so far selected to
set up and manage an Institute of People's Education project.
Another
very creditable first for the RZ Society and tackling the deep deficiencies in
adult education is very much a part of the society's objective of lifting Spiti
out of its backwardness. Authorization was granted last year and this year in
October the director general of the scheme, Jagmohan Singh Raju visited Spiti
for the formal inauguration. He offered us every encouragement and support.
Training in tailoring has been going on, concentrating on traditional Spiti
costumes. Traditional Spiti woollen crafts like shawl, blanket and carpet making
are very suitable for future promotion. We plan to select a group of women for
full professional training in shawl making to raise the standard of Spiti
manufacture to a high level. We have set up an office in Kaza. The project is in
its beginning stage and advertising to fill the post of director will begin
shortly.
Our flagship school, Munsel-ling, will in the future also operate
as a senior secondary school. Last year we crossed one major hurdle by meeting
the Himachal Pradesh Education Board's standards and successfully negotiating
affiliation with them as a senior secondary school. Up until now Munsel-ling has
only taken pupils up to age 16. Planning is now going on for the school to be
able to educate children through the last two years of secondary school as well,
in India known as 10+1 and 10+2. Educating at the senior secondary level as well
will require more classrooms, more teachers qualified to higher standards and,
in the sciences, extensive laboratory facilities. Approval by the Himachal
Pradesh Education Board as a senior secondary school also requires that our
other facilities such as libraries and sports facilities have to be of a high
standard. With more preparation we will be ready for the challenge,
tackling
the difficulties posed by Spiti's harsh environment, remoteness and of course
the funding question.
teachers in our schools. We are very grateful to the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV) organization and especially the president, M
Tsewang Yeshi, for this opportunity. Some of these women will be able to teach in our new feeder village schools once they have
completed this initial training, in the Montessori method. The women are staying at the TCV hostel in Bangalore for the duration of the
course, September 2010 to March 2011. Amongst other new staff we welcomed three new teachers at Munsel-ling school this year.
Tenzin Yeshi and Jamyang Dolma are two Tibetan women and recent graduates from Sarrah College in Dharamsala. They are
teaching Tibetan language. Ringzin Chhodon Angmo B Sc, B Ed, is a Spiti woman from Rangrik who has recently finished her
education. She has been appointed as a science teacher.
The
Sparke Workshop 'Supporting Positive Alternatives for Raising Kindness in
Education' took place in July at the College for Higher Tibetan Studies in
Sarrah, Dharamsala. Efficiently organized by the Department of Education of the
Tibetan government-in-exile and IM Soir it was a meeting place for many
principals and senior staff of Tibetan schools in India. Our general secretary,
Tashi Namgyal, attended. Also the Deer Park Institute in nearby Bir hosted a
seminar entitled the 'Zero Waste Himalaya Conference' to discuss ways in which
to keep the Himalayas beautiful through proper waste management. Two delegates
from our society were at the conference.
The greatly respected prime minister of the Tibetan exile
government, Venerable Samdhong Rinpoche, again paid us the honour of a visit to
our Sidbhari hostel, near Dharamsala. In May in our hostel prayer hall at the
invitation of the Sherab Sangpo Society (a Himalayan Buddhist organization)
Samdhong Rinpoche gave a two-day talk in Hindi on central Buddhist topics
relevant
to the lives of Himalayan communities. People were present from Manali and Spiti
to attend his precious teaching. The talk was broadcast on Indian Television.
Visiting Spiti in 2010 were our old friends of the Medical Check-ups for
Children organization. We are very grateful for their care of children in the
school and various villages. This year programme director Dr Videsh Kapoor personally led the University of British Columbia Global
Health Initiative team. They continued to address the question of making our water supply sufficient and safe for drinking by installing
a purification system. Their usual health and hygiene work went on as usual. The three large greenhouses they funded, as well as the
fourth funded by Alliance Turquoise of France, are now operational, in spite of earlier damage due to freak heavy rains at the time of
the floods in Pakistan. They also invited us to submit a proposal for solar water heating for the children's bathing and clothes washing
requirements. Bob Larvis dentist and founder of HIBA
organization was coming again
to
look at students' teeth but was held back at
Manali by monsoon road damage and heavy rain and could not g
over the mountains. Hope to see you next year Bob
.
In Sidbhari the new study building has reached the third storey.
Meanwhile the ground floor is already in use as additional classrooms for after
hours coaching. The new classrooms became available at just the right time and
our teachers this year are working well and enthusiastically. In the competitive
science subjects these extra classes are in India a necessary part of the
process of preparing for college entrance examinations. We are now more
confident than ever before of our students getting the necessary solid basis in
their subjects before they proceed to the college selection process.
A
huge number of people have helped as usual to make the last year a very
successful one for our educational programme. Thanks to all those and a personal
mention by name of a few of them:
— Benti Banach is our longest serving western volunteer. This
year he found five sponsors for needy children in our scheme, plus someone who
donated a new computer. Check out his new book, A Village Called
Self-Awareness, Life and Times in Spiti Valley.
— Ann Marie Durand gave generously towards the cost of new
toilets at Munsel-ling School.
— Valerie Fanen gave generously towards our education programme.
— Pat Smith and friends and also Pat Emmingham and friends at
Upper Chapel, Sheffield did the same.
— Last but not least Scott Anderson raised a great sum cycling
through Britain from bottom to top, i.e., from Land's End to John o' Groats,
1,052 miles.
Togden Rinpoche paid a visit to Munsel-ling while giving the oral
transmission of the Kangyur (Buddhist scriptures) at the village of Rangrik.
Also thirty children from Munsel-ling school went for their first ever beginners
ski training, on courses organized by the local government's sports section.
The work of the Rinchen Zangpo Society is largely dependent on the
generosity of charitable organizations and individuals. Your support and
contribution can help greatly in providing education to those Spiti children who
come from especially poor families. Sponsoring the education of one of these
children is a wonderful way of helping them.
The cost of sponsoring a child is:
1. USD 30 per month, USD 360 per year for school education.
2. USD 50 per month or USD 600 per year for higher education.
3. USD 80 per month or USD 960 per year for higher education
studying medicine.
—
Dining Hall at Munsel-ling School, Rangrik, Spiti: The present dining facility
was a makeshift structure built for approximately 400 students, but at present
more than 500 students are taking their daily meals in the dining hall. It can
no longer accommodate the growing needs of the school and also the roof and
upper walls were damaged in this year's freak heavy rains. The school badly
needs a proper new dining room. Estimated Budget: INR 29,94,332, USD 66,540.
— Staff Quarter at Sidbhari Hostel, Dharamsala: There is no
dedicated staff accommodation at our Sidbhari site. Staff take up rooms meant
for children. Proper accommodation will enable us to attract better qualified
staff. Estimated Budget: INR 13,50,000, USD 30,000.
— Office cum Reception at Sidbhari Hostel: The current office is
very cramped. We often have to meet our visitors in the library which is not
only a disturbance for our students but also it hampers our office work. We wish
to build a new office building at the entrance to the hostel to prevent such
disruption. We laid the foundation of the new building but, due to lack of
funds, the work has been postponed for the time being. It is one of our major
needs. Estimated Budget: INR 18,50,000, USD 41,111.
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