Leh:
Outside the fame of being the schoolfeatured in the Bollywood blockbuster 3 Idiots, the DrukWhite Lotus School is now receiving sponsors from abroad toarrange for education of children, including specially abledchildren hailing from the region's remote villages.
Out of the 671 students here, there are about 200students from remote areas in the school. Sponsors take careof educational cost of the child studying in the school," saysPrasad Eledath, the Principal of the school.
The school which began to be known as Rancho's schoolafter the character in the Aamir Khan flick has students asfar as Kargil, Chilling, Zanskar which are some of theremotest places of the region flocking to get a basiceducation. For Sunne Yandro, from Kargil district it takesseven hours to reach from Leh to Kargil.
"I want to become a police officer when I am older," shesays. There are more such students who trek for two to threedays to reach the school or go home from school. Children whostay in Zanskar trek for3 to 4 days on frozen river beds, stayin caves and then reach school. There have been incidents ofavalanches and frozen river bed collapsing wiping out entirefamilies.
The school's working with two organisations - DrukpaTrust and "Live to Love UK" - for sponsorship to students fromremote villages.
Hostel facility in the school is of great help to thesekids and is also a home away from home. "The annual fee for astudent is Rs 30,000. Sometimes students from remote areas andin financially unsound conditions are unable to pay the amountand then the school steps in to take care of their expenses,"says Eledath.
Quite a number of global celebrities like Hollywood'sRichard Gere and Kashmiri-born British actress Joanna Lumleyare patrons. Artists such as the Yardbirds have also beendoing programs abroad to support the cause of the school.
The school is also planning exchange programs withschools in abroad and India to get itself into the limelighteven more. "We have already done teacher exchange program. Forstudent exchange program we are not only looking at exchangeprogram with schools abroad but also Indian schools like BlueBells International and Mothers International," says Eledath.
Out of the 671 students here, there are about 200students from remote areas in the school. Sponsors take careof educational cost of the child studying in the school," saysPrasad Eledath, the Principal of the school.
The school which began to be known as Rancho's schoolafter the character in the Aamir Khan flick has students asfar as Kargil, Chilling, Zanskar which are some of theremotest places of the region flocking to get a basiceducation. For Sunne Yandro, from Kargil district it takesseven hours to reach from Leh to Kargil.
"I want to become a police officer when I am older," shesays. There are more such students who trek for two to threedays to reach the school or go home from school. Children whostay in Zanskar trek for3 to 4 days on frozen river beds, stayin caves and then reach school. There have been incidents ofavalanches and frozen river bed collapsing wiping out entirefamilies.
The school's working with two organisations - DrukpaTrust and "Live to Love UK" - for sponsorship to students fromremote villages.
Hostel facility in the school is of great help to thesekids and is also a home away from home. "The annual fee for astudent is Rs 30,000. Sometimes students from remote areas andin financially unsound conditions are unable to pay the amountand then the school steps in to take care of their expenses,"says Eledath.
Quite a number of global celebrities like Hollywood'sRichard Gere and Kashmiri-born British actress Joanna Lumleyare patrons. Artists such as the Yardbirds have also beendoing programs abroad to support the cause of the school.
The school is also planning exchange programs withschools in abroad and India to get itself into the limelighteven more. "We have already done teacher exchange program. Forstudent exchange program we are not only looking at exchangeprogram with schools abroad but also Indian schools like BlueBells International and Mothers International," says Eledath.
