Druk Padma Karpo School provides quality education (CBSE affiliated) in an exceptional learning environment for girls and boys (aged four to sixteen years) living in the remote Himalayan region of Ladakh, North India. The school took its first intake in September 2001 and now has more than 880 students with up to 35% living on campus in purpose built accommodation.

The school draws from a wide catchment area within the Leh valley region and offers residential facilities to local families as well as children from remote areas for whom opportunity and life choices are often limited and quality education is unavailable.

Some of Druk Padma Karpo School’s students are first generation learners who now have the opportunity to study through to matriculation exams, at age sixteen, and then progress to higher education and even college or university. Through the delivery of a carefully tailored and relevant curriculum our students can make considered choices about their future and the lives and careers they wish to follow. They can also acquire expertise to bring back to family villages and, in the long term, help keep these communities alive.

An English medium school rooted in traditional Ladakhi Culture

Students are encouraged to excel in a broad range of academic subjects and to attain high standards in examinations enabling them, as Indian citizens, to engage fully in local and national opportunities. Alongside academic pursuits, the school also equips students with skills for life in Ladakh: students are encouraged to take part in co-curricular activities such as sports, chess, archery, and ‘culture days’ when students learn about and practise Ladakhi cooking, art, textiles, history and dance, helping to keep culture and traditions meaningful and alive.

The students are split into four houses: Courage, Harmony, Unity and Wisdom, the house flags are below:

We are an award-winning project, inspired by the vision of His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, a spiritual leader of Ladakh. Our school offers an education that grounds students firmly in their own culture and equips them to thrive in the modern world.

The main school is located in Shey, the ancient capital of Ladakh, which is about thirty minutes' drive up the Indus Valley from the main town of Leh.  A branch school opened in Khachey in April 2010.

Students study Bothi (the local language), English and Hindi languages, plus sciences, social studies, creative arts and sports. They learn life and livelihood skills, including team work, presentation skills, leadership and problem solving through formal and co-curricular activities.

The school is known locally as the Druk Padma Karpo School - Padma Karpo means White Lotus in Bothi - and is named after Mipham Pema Karpo (1527-1592), who is revered as a great scholar.

This unique initiative is managed by the Druk Padma Karpo Education Society, a local non-profit society, with support from Live to Love, Drukpa Trust (UK charity no 1178756 under the patronage of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama), the Drukpa Charitable Foundation (a US 501(C)(3) organization) and Drukpa Humanitaire (France).

The school is split into four houses - Courage, Wisdom, Unity and Harmony