Unlearn and unschool: Ladakhi innovator’s message to students

BENGALURU: For Sonam Wangchuk, one of India’s ingenious innovators, the biggest dream is to transform the country’s educational system. In the 1980-90s, when 95% of Ladakhi children failed in Class 10 matriculation exams, he realized it was because of constant rote learning in a language they didn’t even understand. Nearly 20 years after setting up the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), a school run by children, Wangchuk now wants to set up a university to take his dream forward.TOI caught up with him at the Cumulus-Srishti 2017, a four-day conference, in the city on Monday to know more about his initiatives and opinions on the Indian education system. Excerpts:
What’s new about your alternative educational projects in Ladakh?
After running SECMOL School, now we want to provide the same model at a higher-education level. Youngsters are extremely capable of solving problems and working constructively towards solutions. At the school level, children are running their own campus, then why not allow them to run enterprises within the university itself?
In the university, each department will have its own attached enterprise. For example, the education department will manage a few schools, while the department of hospitality and tourism will run a couple of hotels. Similarly, all of our other projects will also come under the university — like artificial glaciers and environmental restoration. The varsity should be up and running by 2018 with about 20 students to begin with. We aim to scale it up by at least 5,000 students by the end of 10 years.
Why is it a challenge to allow students to unlearn? What can governments do?
The problem is that our system is bogged down with rigid lines. We have been told time and again that the system is what we should follow and we are afraid to do things differently. During the 80s and 90s, students in Ladakh were part of an alien system of education — sitting in a line outside their school, memorizing answers in a language they didn’t even know. In course of time, we also earned the right to come out and try different things. It’s not easy, but I want to appeal to governments to incorporate innovation and experimentation, not just beside the regular curriculum but at the crux of it. Students must unlearn and undo to realize their innovative spirit.
Even you were a part of the conventional education system both in school and college. How did you unlearn?
I’m not very sure how that happened. Sometimes, the system takes over and you give in. Sometimes, you rise above. I don’t know when it happens, but I feel my rural upbringing spared me of this regiment of obeying and not questioning. I grew up questioning and also got into trouble for that. But it was worth it at the end.
You were homeschooled until the age of nine. What do you think about today’s homeschooling system and how successful is it?
My homeschooling was not the kind where parents take books and teach children. It was an organic, rural homeschooling which could also mean ‘unschooled’. I got lucky because my mother could teach. While the idea of homeschooling is good, it may not be very feasible today for parents who have full-time jobs. Having said that, education shouldn’t be restricted to educators or teachers. Parents and family members must be trained to impart education to their children, irrespective of whether or not they are sent to school.
What’s your message to millions of students across India?
Unlearn, unschool, think on your own and don’t derive from others’ formulae.