It is while trying to solve one such real life problem, of acute water scarcity in the region, that Wangchuk came up with the idea of вЂIce StupasвЂ™. вЂњThey learn by doing вЂ“ they farm, keep animals, make food products and engage in solving real life problems that they face in these harsh climatic conditions.вЂќ Wangchuk says that the students run the school themselves, вЂњlike a little country with its own elected governmentвЂќ. Home to 70-100 students, all of who failed their 10th boards, this school вЂњhas the distinction of taking failures from the systemвЂќ and вЂњmaking living there a learning experience in itselfвЂќ. Which is what the StudentsвЂ™ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) achieves through its school in Phey, around 12 kms from Leh. вЂњBut then we wanted to take care of the ones who still failed, give them a new chance, re-launch them,вЂќ he says. WangchukвЂ™s school has the distinction of taking failures from the system and making their lives there a learning experience in itself Over the next two decades, this number has steadily decreased to 25 per cent this year вЂ“ courtesy the alternative learning practices and other innovative measures that Wangchuk helped develop. According to statistics from the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives (HIAL), an alternative university for mountain development that Wangchuk is setting up, 95 per cent students failed their board exams in 1996. вЂњThat is when I realized how deplorable the state of education was in the region,вЂќ the 50-year-old says. вЂњMy early skills were so developed by these experiences that when I finally joined school at nine, I got promoted twice in a year!вЂќДЄfterwards, while pursuing his mechanical engineering, he began teaching children to earn an income. I played in the fields, sowing seeds, working with animals, jumping in the river, climbing trees,вЂќ he says. вЂњThere werenвЂ™t any schools in my village, so I learnt to read and write from my mother. Born and brought up in a tiny village of five households about 70 kms from Leh, Wangchuk spent the first nine years of his life learning in what he calls вЂњa holistic, harmonious wayвЂќ. But thereвЂ™s more to this engineer-turned-educationist than what celluloid couldвЂ™ve done justice to. Wangchuk first came into the spotlight in 2009, when his story inspired Aamir KhanвЂ™s character of Phunsukh Wangdu in the film 3 Idiots.

3 idiots imdb