Serkong School Sponsorship Program -

This program focusses on a small school in the Indian Himalayas, located near the Tibetan border. This region, closed to tourism until 1992, has experienced rapid change over the last 20 years that threaten the fragile social and ecological networks that exist there. An influx of tourism, inappropriate spending by government and western dominated satellite television have all had an influence.

The Serkong School in Tabo has been set up to try and bring some balance to the education of the Spitian children. The school is an English standard school that also teaches in Hindi and Bhoti, the local language which is a dialect of Tibetan. The teachers are drawn from local and surrounding villages who have an appreciation for the language and culture of Spiti. As the school grows, so does its need for resources and infrastructure.

Background:

The Serkong School has been operational since 2000, taking on average 20 to 40 new students each year, starting with kindergarten, through to Year 10 in 2009. Its objective is to provide a quality, culturally appropriate education to the children of Spiti (being Buddhist, and culturally identifiable with Tibet). There are currently 350 children attending classes, with all of them resident as borders. The school has been struggling to cover ongoing costs and continue its building program, in order to sustain its growth as it takes in each year’s new class.

Issues:

Significant issues for the region include the rapid development of the villages by government and outside business interests, using poor and inappropriate architecture that is setting a bad example to the people of the region. This architecture, using Reinforced Concrete Cement (RCC) and Corrugated Galvanised Iron (CGI) roofing is totally out of place in the cold dry climate of Spiti, where temperatures range from 30 C to minus 30 C.

Part of the school construction program is to develop culturally and climatically appropriate buildings utilising low cost solar passive innovations as much as possible. This has the dual effect of providing comfortable buildings for the children of the school and setting a positive example for the people of Spiti. Other issues of future employment and cultural sustainability are being addressed by various programs.

Sponsorship:

In order to support the school, we have undertaking to administer a child sponsorship program, with the full amount collected being donated to the school directly. This is made possible by generous volunteers who support this program. This program supports the school in the following ways:

Teacher salaries: are very low compared to local government schools and need to be brought into line with Indian standards to maintain and attract quality staff.

Training: Identified by the teachers themselves as a high priority, there are a number of ways to supply means to offer further training to the teaching staff. Eg:

o Send volunteer trainers

o Exchange programs with other regional schools

o Pay trainers to go to the school

o Send teachers away for study periods

Online Sponsorship Form: http://www.gofundme.com/SerkongSchoolTabo

Administrator:

The school started as an initiative of the local (Tabo) monastery and has been lovingly overseen by the head lamas of that monastery. Now, with the school increasing in size every year, a full time administrator is required to oversee the financial and program development of the school.

Volunteers:

A volunteer co-ordinator is required to organise a volunteer program to facilitate volunteers with appropriate skills being sent to the school.

School facilities:

are desperately required, and in the absence of cash, hard material donations are sought in the following areas:

o Equipment (e.g.: for sports, gym, science, etc.)

o Resources for teachers (e.g.: text books, writing materials, art materials, etc.)

o Books to stock the library building.

Sponsorship:

Being a private school, it depends on fees from the students and sponsorship from outside sources to be viable. School child sponsorship is a great way to help poor children access quality education. We have a yearly or monthly payment option available here:

Online Sponsorship Form: http://www.gofundme.com/SerkongSchoolTabo

Sister School Program:

In order to cultivate an international awareness, both for the Spiti children, and children in other parts of the world, this initiative is seen as a way to cultivate inter-school communication and interaction.

School Excursions:

In conjunction with Yak Trak Tours, the Serkong School has an excursion / cultural exchange program with the inaugural tour being in July 2005. This tour is designed to bring together people from the west with the staff and children of the school with a tour from Spiti to Ladakh, where we will visit other innovative schools in the region.

School Mission Statement:

To support and nurture the youth of Spiti to maintain and evolve their language and culture through appropriate education and training in order to attain well being for themselves, their community and environment.