Welcome to the Friends of Leh School

compassion at a school in Leh

This is the Friends of Leh School website, we support Ladakh Rigjung Public School, Choglamsar in Leh. Leh is the capital of the Indian province of Ladakh, part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The school is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, formed and registered under Jammu & Kashmir Government Registration. There is a small charity set up (registered with HMRC) to support the school with a written constitution and trustees. We work very closely with the charity but our role is less formal, focussed on providing material support for the school and keeping supporters of the school in touch with this work.

So Why Does The school Need Friends?

how to help the school

The school provides its community with a highly respected institution, enabling local children to access a good standard of education. Modest fees are paid by those students who's families are able, but many students are orphans or come from very poor families. The school receives no institutional funding, and many activities are underwritten by donations from supporters of the school. Leh is one of the poorest and most inhospitable places in India. Ladakh is home to communities living at some of the highest altitudes on the planet (over 5,000 metres), many villages remain cut off from the outside world for months during the winter. Some communities are virtually illiterate; without this school many young people would have no opportunity for any kind of education. The school has up to 100 boarders resident at any time. Alongside six days of tuition, the school provides; food, healthcare, uniform and a real chance to fulfil potential. The 300 children at the school are the lucky ones, with more resources many more children could be helped.

The Story So Far.....

helping the children in the nomadic communities

During a visit to India in 2008 Maggie Sikora and Steve Morris met the school's founder and Principal Lama Chonet Dorjee. From these initial discussions a relationship developed leading to; a visit to the school; the donation of books and equipment, the creation of a charity, sponsorship of individual children and much more. The formal request for Maggie and Steve's help is contained in a no objection certificate released by the school (this is a large pdf file).

Through this collaboration two ideas have strengthened:

  • Even relatively small amounts of money (by British standards) can make a significant difference to pupils at the school, 50p meets all the daily sponsorship costs for one day scholar.
  • The indirect benefits of supporting the school are as great as the visible results. For example for every child sponsored at the school another might be able to come down from the high Himalayas. This is obviously beneficial to the student in the short term but also to the family and in fact perhaps the whole community that the student comes from.

So highly regarded is a place at the school that on occasions parents bring children down from the mountains and ask Lama Chonet to admit the student even though they have no money for school fees let alone bus fare to return to their village several days walk away. Every penny we raise goes to the goal of helping the school and it's students.