On Independence Day, 15th August 2013, Sumita Sinha, Executive Director of Charushila led a workshop at the school with the residential students. Charushila is a small charity focusing on the empowerment of the individual and the community through participation and engagement.

Charushila engages in projects, research and events connected with the creation of public spaces using sustainable and local resources, knowledge transfer and community engagement. Charushila believes that in particular, engaging with children and youth encourages their potential and creativity through positive interaction with the built and natural environments. The Sanskrit word 'Charushila' is made from Charu meaning 'Beautiful' and Shila meaning 'foundations'.

The children were asked to draw their vision of Ladakh's future or their environment (school/home) on long sheets which became 'horizontal tangkas'.  Each group collaborated, debated, negotiated and finally drew their ideas on paper.

It was a fascinating process and the drawings themselves provided very revealing insights into what attracts, focuses and engages children into the built and natural environments. In particular, children were very close to the spiritual environment which is very dominant in the landscape and culture of Ladakh. Some significant themes emerged and could indicate further how children can become active citizens and responsible for future of Ladakhi society.

Students take part in many extra-curricular activities. A few senior students performed in a cultural programme organised by the Ladakh Buddhist Association to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr. B R Ambedkar as seen in the photograph.

The school also took part in the Buddha Jayanti procession organised by Ladakh Buddhist Association and various students participated in the cultural programme.
The students of Class 9 were taken to see a Science Exhibition organised by Bharatiya Vidya Niketan (BVN). There, the students saw different models and exhibits illustrating various scientific concepts and theories.

The House competitions continue every Saturday at school.

The school participated in the Secondary Sports Tournament in May, organised by District Youth Services and Sports. It was held at the Boys’ Higher Secondary School, Leh. Thankfully the conditions were better than during their winter sports events. The following awards were won:

• Girls Football (Winner)
• Girls Handball (Runners Up)
• Boys Relay (Gold)
• Girls Relay (Gold)
• 100m race Girls (Gold)
• 100m race Boys (Gold)
• 400m race Boys (Bronze)

The 2-day annual Kurman Gyalmo Inter-school literary festival was organised by the school in May. This is held every year to encourage budding literary talent among the students of Ladakh. There were different events such as creative writing, drama, dramatic reading, art, and a quiz. The festival was themed “Child Rights”.  Among the participants were 13 schools including Lamdon, Moravian, Kendriya Vidyalaya, and a few government schools. The best school award for the Junior category went to Druk White Lotus School and the senior award was taken by Lamdon School, Leh.

His Eminence Kyabje Thuksey Rinpoche visited Ladakh between 14th and 18th April 2012. He visited Druk White Lotus School to give encouragement and provide advice as well as visiting Hemis Monastery to oversee the preparation works for the forthcoming 4th Annual Drukpa Council to be held there in August.

The school term finished on 15^th December 2011 for the long winter break. The school’s Principal, Mr Prasad Eledath, made an educational visit to the United Kingdom during January 2012.

A highlight of the trip was to visit the St Christopher School in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. DPKS has enjoyed a twinning with St Christopher School since 2005 when a group of students and staff from St Christopher first made a visit to Ladakh.

Since then a biennial visit has been established, with the UK students participating in a challenging trek in the Himalaya mountains, and spending time at DPKS delivering workshops and educational sessions.

Mr Eledath and the Head of St Christopher School, Mr Richard Palmer, had the opportunity to meet for the first time. The staff of St Christopher gave a tour of their campus and had discussions about the on-going twinning of the two schools, especially the next visit to DPKS which is scheduled for summer 2013. The students of both schools benefit enormously from the visits.

On the 24th September 2011, the Druk White Lotus School celebrated its 10th Founders’ Day. The entire school had been gearing up for this event for weeks. The last few days leading up to D-day were absolutely frenetic, with the students and the teachers working from dawn to dusk to make sure that the celebration was a success.

The day was graced by Rigzin Spalbar, Chief Executive Councillor (Leh) as the Chief Guest for the occasion. Many other eminent personalities along with the children’s parents attended as well.

There was an art exhibition put together by the different classes on varied topics including “monasteries of Ladakh”. Individual classes also put up exhibitions on “history of Ladakh”, “dances of Ladakh”, “Amchi (Tibetan traditional) medicine”, etc. There were posters, crafts and paintings.

There was a cultural show by different students. It included traditional Ladakhi and Tibetan dance and song recitals and modern dances to Tibetan and Hindi songs. The infant section recited rhymes. Some of the highlights of the show included a karate display where the students performed stunts like breaking wooden staffs and slabs of marble with their limbs. Another popular recital was the yoga display performed by some of the juniors.

Once the show ended, the guests went around to the various game stalls that had been put up across the brightly decked campus.

Later in the evening, after all the guests had returned home, the school prepared for its live webcast screened through this website. After a few problems getting the satellite connection to work, some of the day’s performances were repeated for the global audience, including a few words from students and staff and a message read out from His Eminence Kyabje Thuksey Rinpoche, the Chair of the Governors. Viewers across the world in Mexico, USA, Europe, Africa and India watched with delight as Ladakh was beamed into their homes.

On the 10th Anniversary of the official opening of the Druk White Lotus School, His Eminence Kyabje Thuksey Rinpoche, Chair of the school governing body, sent this message.

When the land where the school stands today was offered to H.H. Gyalwang Drukpa and H.E. the 1st Thuksey Rinpoche over 40 years ago, His Holiness wanted to build on this site a school that would combine modern education with the traditional value systems of Ladakh so that the students graduating from this school would be able to face the challenges of the modern world and yet retain their cultural values. With the support of generous patrons and sponsors and the dedicated hard work of Drukpa Trust UK, His Holiness' vision of a school was realized and the Druk Pema Karpo Institute, also known as Druk White Lotus School, was opened at Shey, 10 years ago this day.

Over these 10 years the school has seen many changes. It has grown from primary to middle school and today we have a group of dedicated teachers and staff led by the principal Mr. Prasad Eledath. I feel proud and privileged to be associated with the school and have the opportunity to contribute towards carrying forward the vision of His Holiness.

It is not enough to have eco-friendly buildings and environment. We must work hard now to ensure that the school grows in educational standards as well over the coming years so that DKPI becomes a globally model school of modern education, cultural preservation and eco-friendliness. I am confident that the teachers and staff members led by Mr. Prasad have the necessary determination and courage to face the challenges that lie ahead.

Last but not the least I take this opportunity to thank Sonam Angdus, our construction manager, for taking sole responsibility, with dedication and sincerity, in seeing that construction was carried out as per the blueprint prepared by the team of architects.

Tashi Delek!

What do you get when you cross an extremely creative artist along with a bunch of eager children? Some beautiful pages of calligraphy, a vibrant dragon float and a hilarious puppet show! While the students of standard 6 participated in the calligraphy workshop, the 8th standard created a brilliant dragon float using an old bicycle and coloured paper. The 9th standard students organised a puppet show comprising different animals and birds. They performed the puppet show in front of the entire school and elicited thunderous applause.

Friday 5th August is the one year anniversary of the floods and mudflows that started just before midnight in 2010. Shops and restaurants in Leh and the surrounding areas are closed today in respect for those who died or lost their homes and loved ones.

Many schools have stayed open and to mark the occasion DWLS held a special assembly today. Prayers were held and Class 7B gave a presentation on the environment and geology of Ladakh.

Mr Karma Thargyil, Head of the Infant Section, then gave a short speech about the disaster and those whose lives it had affected.  Mr Thargyil lost his own house to the mud. The whole school observed two minutes of silence. Further prayers were said to conclude this special assembly.

Despite the serious effect this event had on the school and the Leh and Choglamsar areas, life appears to be back to normal with houses rebuilt and nearly all of the debris cleared away, however agricultural land covered with mud will take time to become fertile soil again. The school campus needs much landscaping work to be done and physical defences are being built to protect against possible future inundations.

Materials, equipment and furnishings that were lost at the school have mostly been replaced  but the school still urgently needs funds to replace the Montessori equipment (2 x classroom sets at 234,000 INR(Rps)/ US$5,200/ €3,700/ £3,300) and to re-stock the library with books to meet the school needs and CBSE requirements (450,000 INR(Rps)/ US$10,000/ €7,200/ £6,400) for a further 1500 books). Contact us for a list of examples of the novels required This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Shravan Muralidhar is the guy from school who was always disinterested in the monotonous school schedule. Having done his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) specialising in PAINTING, he is now pursuing his M.Des in Visual Communication. He is here to experience ART the young way, the innocent way and the way tiny ones do it and basically getting the children into a new experience.

Sinja Hammer is 19 years old and just graduated from school in Germany with main courses in English and Economics. She will stay at the school for half a year, assisting the teachers in the infant section and in the English class. In cooperation with the Art teacher she will also help to redecorate some classrooms affected by the flood.  She will also be conducting the reading classes with the students.

Varun Saini is an alumnus of the Indian Naval Academy and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. After spending six years at the Indian Navy, he joined the corporate world and works as a consultant at Bain and Company (India). He is fond of travelling, reading and adventure sports. He is presently assisting the teachers in the Mathematics and Science department at the school.

It’s not often that the students of Druk School get to meet someone who has been on top of the world, literally. Hence, when Krushnaa Patil arrived at the school to talk about her mountaineering expeditions, she was greeted with a lot of anticipation and excitement. She was the youngest Indian women to summit Mount Everest in 2009, at the young age of 19. Later she summated the highest peak of every continent including Antarctica. She addressed the senior students of the school and showed them pictures from her various expeditions around the world. The children listened with rapt attention as she spoke of some of her adventures and the challenges that she faced as a climber. Krushnaa spoke of some of her ordeals while trying to find sponsors for her Mount Everest expedition. She also mentioned as to how the journey was a zero-impact one where all the team members carried down all the waste that they had generated, including biological waste. They carried tonnes of garbage down from Mount Everest. Following this inspiring narrative, she answered some of the questions that the children had about her adventures.

A second motivational talk was conducted by Varun Saini. A volunteer with the Druk School for over a month, he spoke to the seniors about MBA as a career. He told the children the various pros and cons of having an MBA degree along with the different job prospects after college. It wasn’t all work though; his presentation also gave the children a glimpse of college life at IIM Bangalore. The other part of his talk focused on a career in the armed forces. The students were told all about the different sections in the armed forces, and a career in the army both as an after school and an after college alternative.