Sonam Wangchuk: Man on a mission

“It’s not about what I need but about what needs me.” That’s Sonam Wangchuk for you — an engineer, innovator and an education reformist and the inspiration behind Aamir Khan’s character in 3 Idiots.

He was one of the 10 innovators who were conferred the coveted Rolex Award for Enterprise ’16.  In Hyderabad for the 77th IPSC Principal’s conclave on Tuesday, Wangchuk was a hit with guests and they couldn’t wait to click photos with the man.

A mechanical engineer from Ladakh, Wangchuk also drew inspiration from engineer Chewang Norphel’s work of creating artificial glaciers for storing water. For this project, he created ice stupas that were 35 metres to 40 metres high and could store upto 16,000 cubic litres of water, enough to irrigate 10 hectares of land. During winter, the ice stupas freeze, lasts till spring and and it melts in summer, ensuring there is enough water for use.

In his new project he aims to build a university through crowd funding, for students who would learn everything by experimenting. Sharing what made him create the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh, he says,

“Students had been affected by an alien education system in Ladakh. When a child is born, he is not aware of any language. But by the age of two, he is fluent in his mother tongue — a child in Telangana will be fluent in Telugu and a child in England will be fluent in English. That’s how nature has built us.”

“In our pursuit of attaining greatness through learning English, the idea of actual learning is being forgotten. One should use common sense and absorb from the surroundings and not learn only by memorising textbooks,” he adds.

He says that the play-way learning for children, which is making waves now, has always been there. It is just that no one took it up seriously. Teachers should realise that caging students in classrooms and making them memorise won’t help them gain knowledge.

Citing examples from his experience in Ladakh, where 95 per cent students would fail during early 90s, he says,  “At first, a child in Ladakh, learns Ladakhi, then Urdu till class VIII,  and then every curriculum is in English from class IX. Imagine the student’s plight, when whatever they have learned goes for a toss. That was the reason behind such poor results,” he says.

He then collaborated with the government of Jammu & Kashmir and altered textbooks for the state-run schools in Ladakh, to make it more student friendly.

“Children should be active, learn and play. At my school, I have created a special section for students who have failed in the main stream examinations, they are an integral part of how the school works. They have a student body and assign duties — it’s all hands on. Presently, there is a vast alumnus of youngsters who have studied there and made themselves and me proud. We have teachers at the school who were students there. It’s a great feeling to see the cycle of educating going on,” shares Wangchuk.