Dhankar Gompa, Spiti Valley (Himalaya)

Literacy India, Vidyapeeth Centre, Gurgaon

Apeejay School, Mumbai

By Dhankar Gompa, Spiti Valley (Himalaya)

Namo Tenzin Agrup

Due to the fact that Tenzin Agrup does not speak English, the exercise was done orally with the aid of a translator (a villager). The text below was therefore written by ourselves and derives from Tanzin Agrup’s answers to our questions.

Dhankar Gompa (Monastery) is located in the Spiti Valley (Himachal Pradesh). Dhankar was the ancient capital of Spiti. The gompa is built on a rock above the valley at an altitude of 3500 meters : the view is spectacular. The old gompa was built 1000 years ago and still has some nice frescoes. It was once used as a jail and is now open for tourist visits. Only two monks live up there. The rest live in the new gompa, built 10 years ago, which includes the school, the dormitories and the kitchen. There are 50 monks in total living there, age 5 to 15.
In order to get to the gompa, you have to use a steep road for 8 km. During eight months of the year, our valley is usually cut off from the Kullu Valley by heavy snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Literacy India, Vidyapeeth Centre, Gurgaon

Sanjay
Doli Ram
Rahul Kumar
Yogesh Kumar

Literacy India is a NGO (Non Governmental Organisation) established in 1996. There are six branches :
Pathshala : Literacy India started with this project in 1996 as an open classroom where right for basic literacy to bridge classes was the focus. It was opened in half constructed Ansal buildings and in the village of Chuapal.
Vidyapeeth : This endeavour beginning in 2001 in Chauma village is a fulltime coeducation primary school with 175 children. Midday meal is provided with the support of Hotel Radisson and other benevolent supporters of Literacy India. This non formal system has earned a high reputation amongst the beneficiaries during the last few years (the challenge was indeed to provide attractive activities in order to encourage children to come to school and not to stay at home).
Gurukul : This project was initiated by our sponsors to provide higher education to the children who show promises in Vidyapeeth and Pathshala. Presently 40 such children are attending English or Hindi medium school in the neighbourhood. Literacy India contributes towards their school fees, books, stationary and uniforms.
Shiksharth : This programme aims at bringing out talent from the rural and slum children in various art forms such as painting, theatre, pottery and other performing arts. Theatre in education concept is used to educate children to many things in life. Shiksharth has taken help of the experts from the National School of Drama.
Karigari : Not to leave the children with mere education, Literacy India developed this project to provide vocational skills that would enable them to earn with dignity. There are tailoring centres in the villages of Doltabad, Sarai and Rajendrapark, where over 200 girls are learning tailoring skills. Literacy India helps in their placement and employment.
Jagrukta : This programme goal is to reach out to the children’s own surrounding to bring awareness amongst the adults.

 

 

 

 

 

By Apeejay School, Mumbai

Siddharth Sudhakar
Shubham Raj Kumar
Pratik Dubal
Amrit Kaur
Rhea Saigal
Siddhanth Nair
Siddhant Ravi

Hello ! We are the students of Apeejay School, Nerul.

A regular day in our school : Our day in school starts with our morning assembly. Our assembly begins with the morning prayer, which is a tribute to god. Then we have a thought read by a student. After the thought, the news is read by a student. We have 8 periods in a day.

Structure of the school : The pre-primary section includes nursery and kindergarten. The primary section is on the ground and first floor. The classes from nursery to fifth standard have 4 sections (a, b, c, d). You can find the secondary and senior secondary on the second and third floor.

History : Our school was founded on fourth October 1986 by Dr. Stya Paul. He was also designated as the chairman, while Smt. Sushma Berlia was designated as the vice-chairman. Smt Berlia is also the chair person, managing committee, Apeejay school, Nerul. Shri C.Jayson was the principal of the school from 1987 to April 1999. After that consequently Shri.N.N.Nayyar took over in May 1999.