Mr. Sonam Wangchuk at The GRIHA Summit 2016

Mr Sonam Wangchuk talked about the launch of Operation New Hope, a triangular collaboration of the Government, village communities, and civil society to bring reforms in the government schools system in 1994. The programme involved formation of Village Education Committees to take ownership of state schools, training of teachers in child- friendly ways, and rewriting and publishing localized text books for Ladakh. For students who still failed in their state exams, he founded the SECMOL Alternative School Campus near Leh, a special school that admits students who fail in their exams. However, he said that with the supportive and creative environment at the school, the so called failures have excelled in their chosen fields and have even risen to international fame. The vision of the ‘alternative university’, which he hopes to achieve some day, is to bring about development in the mountains and also aid in combatting climate change through scientific solutions. By introducing educational reforms in government-run schools, Mr Wangchuk is encouraging communities to reinforce the cultural identity of minority ethnic groups that live along the northern border of India. When he saw people struggling to meet their basic water requirements in Ladakh, he came up with a solution of creating vertical ice stupas to store water for a longer time. Through these stupas, he hopes to solve Ladakh’s water problems. Together with the students, he designed and built solar-heated buildings that are low-cost and are made of earth/mud. However, it maintains 15°C even when the outside temperature is – 25°C in Ladakhi winter.

~-~~-~~~-~~-~
Please watch: "TERI Deakin Nanobiotehnology Centre: Nanobiotechnology solutions for sustainability"
   • TERI Deakin Nanobiotehnology Centre: ...  
~-~~-~~~-~~-~