SECMOL: The Movement Success Story and Victimization
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April 1, 2007, page I
SECMOL: The Movement,
Success Story and Victimization
Syed Junaid Hashmi
Mein Akeyla hi chala tha janib-e-manzil magar
Log saath aatee Gaye, Caravan banta gaya
- Majrooh Sultan
A movement which was aimed at rebuilding the lost pride and self-
esteem of the Ladakhi people through education has been facing a tough
time in dealing with circumstances which have forced the man behind
this movement, Sonam Wangchuk, to go places in search of support for
his dignified cause. Dubbed as an antinational, a land grabber and
above all a nuisance in the smooth functioning of the education
department in Leh and Ladakh, an allegedly arrogant bureaucrat has
almost forced Wangchuk to quit his work.
Although, Wangchuk is a contented man for the fact that he is aware of
what he has done for Ladakh but it is the victimization of other NGO
that has motivated him to fight a lone battle against the Babudom.
Having reaped fruits of Wangchuk's work, politicians are now reluctant
to come forward in his support. Although, unofficially they say that
Wangchuk is a man of commanding determination and has all the
qualities of being rated as one of the greats of 21st century but
officially, they hesitate from questioning the district administration
at Leh over this issue.
"We have no doubt that Wangchuk has brought reforms in Ladakhi society
through his 'Operation New Hope', he is not an anti-national I know,
he has been working with utmost integrity, I accept but unless Ladakh
Autonomous Hill Development Council does come clear with its stand
over the issue, we are unable to help him," said a senior Ladakhi
bureaucrat requesting anonymity. Similar is the answer of other
Ladakhi bureaucrats and ministers in the present coalition.
But the man, who has been fighting against the corrupt and inefficient
system for the past 19 years, has not lost hope. "I cannot say why
they are reluctant but it is highly unfortunate for the people of Leh
that their representatives are silent over this crisis, when they were
holding positions in LAHDC at Leh. Activities of SECMOL were not
suspicious but now suddenly, SECMOL has been kept under surveillance,"
said the Director of SECMOL. He stressed that Ladakhi ministers and
bureaucrats need to awaken their conscience which has gone into
slumber due to political compulsions or due to bureaucratic
acquaintance.
Origin of SECMOL
Founded in the year 1988 by a group of students who had themselves
been 'victims' of the alien education system foisted on Ladakh and its
people, Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL)
worked to rebuild the lost pride and self-possession of the Ladakhi
people through its educational reforms Programme 'Operation New Hope'.
The movement knew where to strike and how. They strove to rebuild the
corrupt, inefficient and highly irresponsible system of education.
The strategy
SECMOL adopted a three-tiered localization strategy to bring about
educational reforms. They created Village Education Committees (VEC),
provided special teacher training and introduced language and cultural
reforms with a hope to build an educational model to rove government
schools in Ladakh.
Beginning with one school in the village of Saspol, SECMOL started by
engaging the villagers themselves in the school system. They realized
early in his work that change at the policy level lay in people's
support and participation. Mitigating the dangerous political
situation in which they were working in, the people also acted as a
protective shield against the wrath of the government.
Building on that foundation, SECMOL took the initiative of launching
the Village Education Committees (VEC). The villages that want teacher
training were asked to pay for it. Each villager contributed a little
towards the total amount. This contribution ensured the villagers'
enthusiasm in the process of change and hence secured their future
role as monitors of the schools.
SECMOL worked with the committees and with new teachers to introduce a
localized curriculum with local ornamentation and perspective. SECMOL
took special care in avoiding and neutralizing conflict by maintaining
a balance between teachers and people. Rural folk would take great
care of teachers coming to teach their children. Villagers were
encouraged to organize welcome and farewell parties for the teachers.
According to SECMOL's strategy, the training of teachers lays special
stress on various flaws in the prevailing education system, namely. A
team of SECMOL got introduced relevant topics in the curriculum and
through its advocacy efforts, government introduced English at the
primary level in 1992.
In 1996, Hill Council adopted SECMOL's "Operation New Hope" as its
official policy for the government schools of Ladakh. SECMOL further
strengthened the voice of the people by merging Village Education
Councils into Block Education Committees and these further into
District Education Committees with an aim to strengthen citizens'
movement to keep an eye on the functioning of schools.
SECMOL's work achieved first success with the building of a central
government residential school at Durbuk village. Everyone in the
community put in at least one day's labour to build the school.
Because the buildings were insulated for winter use, they were able to
implement a path-breaking change in the educational cycles.
While children in Durbuk used to spend their school break in idleness
during cold winters, now they spend their break outdoors during the
summer, often helping their parents at work farming, and study through
the winter.
SECMOL has incorporated the use of solar energy at the hostel in Phey
and has also set up a learning center for students to learn about
solar energy. SECMOL has installed a solar cooker and solar pump to
feed and wash the 200 students who live in the hostel. Solar power
lights the hostel at night.
Due to a result of citizens' advocacy, the government has changed the
official language of instruction in Ladakhi schools from Hindi to
English, the second language of the people in the region (Boddhi is
the first). Meanwhile, by publishing and distributing the first
Ladakhi magazines and teaching materials, SECMOL is playing a
significant role in establishing a modern written Ladakhi language.
The man who led the movement against all odds: Sonam Wangchuk
The man who laid the foundation stone of this movement is Sonam
Wangchuk; founder Director of the Students' Educational and Cultural
Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL). Sonam spent the first seven years of his
childhood with his mother in a remote Ladakhi village, climbing trees,
helping her with housework, and learning to read and write in Ladakhi.
Wangchuk feels that the opportunity to learn Ladakhi was one of the
best things, since the schools he attended did not teach the language.
His father, Sonam Wangyal, a politician who later became a minister in
the state government, was stationed in Srinagar.
There, Sonam Wangchuk looked different from the other students and was
addressed in a language he did not understand.
Many adults regarded his lack of responsiveness as stupidity. Unable
to bear the treatment, he escaped to a Delhi school he heard of,
pleaded his case to the principal, and got himself admitted. It was
free, residential, government-run school for children from the border
areas of India. The encouragement of the teachers in the school
brought him out of his shell; he studied, participated in
extracurricular activities, and blossomed into a confident young boy.
Sonam later opted to go to Ladakh where he opened a tuition center to
help students take their first board exam (Class 10). The response was
overwhelming. He tried new teaching methods in his class and
encouraged peer learning. The experience led Sonam to realize that the
core difficulty was with the language.
In 1988, a year after graduating as an engineer, Sonam with his
brother and five peers, formed the Students' Educational and Cultural
Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL). Their first fundraising effort, a Ladakhi
cultural show, proved to be a huge success. Until 1990 Sonam coached
school students and offered vocational training courses to dropouts.
Sonam had to get to the root of the problem, and the solution to that
lay in localizing the system of elementary education.
In 1991 Sonam started his first intervention in the government school
of Saspol with permission from the chief education officer of the
region. The success of the model created popular demand for his
training, and 33 villages came forward to adopt the model before the
newly formed Hill Council adopted it as official policy.
In 1995, when Ladakh was placed under governor's rule for political
disturbance, Sonam and his team went to plead their case with the
special advisor to the governor. Impressed by their efforts, the
advisor ordered the state government of Jammu and Kashmir to support
the Melong publications, and thus Sonam went on to publish his first
set of books in Ladakhi.
The controversy
It all started when Wangchuk made a speech in a conference at Leh and
said something about Deputy Commissioner M.K. Diwedi which irked him.
On the very next day after this incident, Deputy Commissioner sent a
notice to the NGO's seeking an explanation regarding the funds being
utilized by them. Further, in the due course of time, he blacklisted
some of the NGOs while issuing prohibitory instructions to others
NGOs got united over this alleged action of the deputy commissioner.
They collectively started a resentment movement against the deputy
commissioner which was spearheaded by Director of SECMOL Sonam
Wangchuk. This allegedly irked the district administration which
resulted into a series allegations and counter-allegations being
leveled against each other.
Following is the dairy of events that have taken place in Ladakh
during the last 19 years of existence of SECMOL
1988: SECMOL comes into being.
December 23, 2001: Director of SECMOL Sonam Wangchuk appears on the
cover the India's reputed and largest selling magazine "The Week". The
magazine makes him "Man of the Year-2001" for his revolutionary
activities.
June 25, 2001: Director of SECMOL appears on the cover of "Outlook
India", another reputed news magazine of the country.
December 21, 2004: Secretary to Union Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Government of India Kumud Bansal invites Director of
SECMOL Sonam Wangchuk to be on the governing council of the National
Mission for the achievement of goal of universal elementary education
(UEE).
August 12, 2005: Chairman of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development
Council (LAHDC), Kargil Haji Asgar Ali Karbalaie invites Director of
SECMOL Sonam Wangchuk to help them in streamlining the education
system in Kargil.
August 15, 2005: Chairman of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development
Council (LAHDC), Leh Rigzin Spalbar appreciates contribution of Sonam
Wangchuk in drafting the vision document titled "Ladakh 2025, a
roadmap for progress and prosperity".
April 3, 2006 (Morning): Speaking at a conference on "Youth and
Employment" organized by District Industries Department at Leh, Sonam
Wangchuk while saying that today's youth should go for private
entrepreneurship instead of limiting themselves to government jobs
made a passing remark saying that in government jobs, from a peon to
chief secretary, people live off on tax payers money.
April 3, 2006 (Evening): Deputy Commissioner Leh M.K. Diwedi gives an
angry telephone call to Sonam Wangchuk in which he criticized him for
having insulted those doing government jobs during his speech.
Wangchuk apologizes saying that he never wanted to offend any
profession. But Deputy Commissioner expresses displeasure. (As
narrated by Sonam Wangchuk).
April 4, 2006: An order No. DC-(NGO) 06(0704) dated 4.04.2006 was
served to all the NGO's by Deputy Commissioner (DC) Leh M.K. Diwedi
stating that intelligence reports indicate violation of fiscal and
administrative norms by a large number of non-governmental
organizations operating in Leh. It further indicted the NGO's of
misuse of funds due to lack of transparency and accountability in the
maintenance of accounts.
May 30, 2006: A Network of Non-governmental Organizations (NGO's) of
Ladakh called Ladakh Voluntary Network (LNV) in response to Deputy
Commissioner's order sent a letter to him explaining their position.
This letter was signed by chairman of Ladakh Voluntary Network (LNV)
Padma Tashi, who runs an NGO called "Rural Development and You".
July 25, 2006: Deputy Commissioner in an official communication
through letter no. DC-(NGO) 04(704) dated 25.07.2006 to senior
superintendent of police (SSP) Leh informed him that Non-political
certificate issued by his office vide file no. DML-1V-97(903) dated
30.04.1997 to NGO namely "Rural Development and You" being led by
Padma Tashi has been withdrawn and the said NGO has been blacklisted.
August 24, 2006: Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir Basharat Ahmed Dar
intervened and held deliberations with the NGOs from 22 to 24th August
proposing a four point formula which involved increase in cooperation
and interaction between government agencies and NGOs, periodic social
audit and presentation of programmes, policies, achievements and
activities before the public along with sharing the same with district
administration on the formats to be decided mutually. It was also
decided that the Deputy Commissioner would withdraw all his
communications to the NGOs since April 2006 and organisations would
withdraw the case filed by them in the court.
January 18, 2007: Chairman of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development
Council (LAHDC), Leh Chering Dorjay after appreciating the good work
being done by SECMOL requests the organizational head Sonam Wangchuk
to continue providing its expertise in the training of teachers and
mobilizing Village Education Committees for the success of Ladakh
Model of Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan.
February 27, 2007: Deputy Commissioner, Leh through a notice no: DCL/
NGO/06(704) dated 28.02.2007 informed Director of SECMOL Sonam
Wangchuk that there are more serious allegations against him and his
organization which included illegally occupation of 200 kanals of land
without paying government dues apart from having anti-national
connections in China and other places.
February 27, 2007: Another notice no: DCL/NGO/06(704) attached with
this notice was sent to Director of SECMOL Sonam Wangchuk in which it
had been stated that he is under illegal occupation of 200 kanals of
state land at Phey and was asked to deposit a premium of Rs. 80 lakhs
for the land into government treasury.
March 1, 2007: Director of SECMOL Sonam Wangchuk denies all the
allegations and accuses Deputy Commissioner M.K. Diwedi of playing a
mischievous game. Along with this letter, he prepares a CD in which he
explains the alleged High Handedness of Deputy Commissioner in Ladakhi
language.
March 8, 2007: Deputy Commissioner M.K. Diwedi through an order no.
DCL/NGO/06(704) dated 08.03.2007 orders imposition of section 144
which included complete ban on circulation of materials like CD/Audio/
Video cassette, written text, pamphlet, books, brochures and letters
issued by Sonam Wangchuk.
March 11, 2007: The CD prepared by Sonam Wangchuk reaches Ladakhi
bureaucrats and Ministers who according to Wangchuk always supported
his organizational activities. He says that they are aware of the
facts but reluctant to act due to political compulsions.