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Need school science, not PhDs, to solve problems: Sonam Wangchuk

The prevalent model of school education was becoming increasingly irrelevant as it does not connect students to real-life issues, says Wangchuk

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Academic Sonam Wangchuk of ‘3 Idiots’ fame roots for the mother tongue
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PhDs are not required to deal with most of our daily life problems which can be easily solved with high school science, according to Sonam Wangchuk, founder-director of an experimental school in Ladakh.

He said the prevalent model of school education was becoming increasingly irrelevant as it does not connect students to real-life issues. He also advocated schooling in mother tongue to connect students to their local environment. He made these statements at Ahmedabad Management Association on Wednesday.

"The school our children have built themselves ensures that the night temperature remains 15 degrees Celcius even as the outside temperature in -15 degrees Celcius," he said. "We use the principles of convection, radiation and green house which students learn. In our school, they gain experience about day-to-day life and so it is easy for them to understand the concept rather than having just bookish knowledge."

Citing his own experience, Wangchuk said that 95% of students in Ladakh used to fail in Class 10 exams because what they were learning was not related to Ladakh, but decided in Srinagar, which, in turn, was decided in New Delhi, and finally in London.

He said the teachers and the society were blaming the students for the high rate of failure. The students were ridiculed for giving excuses such as it was because of the lack of oxygen at high altitudes that they were unable to pass their exams.

"Actually, the syllabus was not relevant for Ladakh. Later on I found out that it was not relevant for London either," said Wangchuk.

He then modified the syllabus to suit the local requirement and in local language. Teachers were retrained, and in 2015, the passing rate went up to 75%.

"Earlier teachers taught Urdu and other languages which students found difficult to grasp," he said. "We started teaching them in local language. Now, they are more interested in education. Mother tongue is for mind is what mother's milk is for body."

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