Excelsior Correspondent
LEH, Aug 23: His vision for the Government schools, introducing new concepts of pedagogy, arranging transport facility for the students from his own pocket and encouraging parents to get their kids enrolled in Government schools are among the few reasons, which made Sonam Gyaltsan to be awarded for the prestigious National Teacher Award 2020.
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Born in Sakti village, located 50 kilometres away from Leh city and serving as teacher in a Government Middle School, Sonam adopted number of innovative method to improve the condition of Government schools. While serving in Middle school Mudh Nyoma Changthang in 2003, Sonam with the support of his headmaster Sonam Lhundup and some NGOs, introduced a new concept of teaching method where all lessons were painted on the school walls with pictures which not only made the school attractive but also made it easier for the children to memorize the lesson. With this method, his school became a role model for other schools in Ladakh following the similar pattern of teaching where children joyfully learned the lesson from the school wall. SDM Nyoma had awarded this school with appreciation letter for making it pilot project school in Changthang region in 2003.
During his 17 years of service as school teacher, Sonam arranged motivational talk for his students by expert, beautification of classroom, arranging transportation facility, introducing extracurricular activities in school such as dance, cooking, movie screening, exchange programme and exposure tour.
Himself educated from a Government school, Sonam enrolled his daughter also in the Government school so as to increase the faith of parents over Government run schools. In year 2016, when he was posted to Middle School Tanak Sakti, there were only four students but at present there are 104 students studying in the same schools. He along with his staff made door to door campaign to encourage parent to enroll their kids into Government schools.
To arrange the transport facility for his students, Sonam took a bank loan of Rs 15 lakh to buy a bus for his students and monthly loan installment (EMI) is deducted from his salary. As the result, students from neighbouring villages got enrolled in his school. He also used TLM (Teaching/Learning Materials) so as to run his school at par with private schools.
His vision is to make all the Government school Infrastructure at par with private schools so as to access modern facility to the underprivileged society. During 71 Republic Day celebration on January 26, 2020, UT Education Department had awarded him with the Zonal level best teacher Award.
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