Also known as the Iron lady of Ladakh, Gurugram-based Sujata Sahu, talks to SANGEETA YADAV about how she is providing quality education to the children in Ladakh through 17000 Ft Foundation
What prompted you to start the 17,000 Feet Foundation?
I had quit my IT job spanning 12 years to work in the education sector. While working as a middle school teacher at Shri Ram School, Gurugram, I build many outdoor education programmes. But I constantly questioned the meaningfulness of my role and the impact that I was making in the world. My answers came during a solo trek to Ladakh in 2010 where I spent time in remote villages and taught foreign language to a handful of children in schools which was having staff crunch. The aspiration of the parents to educate their children and dream of a better future for them was the inspiration that led me to start the foundation. It is a non-profit organisation founded with my husband Sandeep Sahu and our Ladakh partner Dawa Jora.
Tell us about the initiatives
Our programmes focus on improving Government schools in remote areas, and delivery of quality education. Some of the initiatives are:
School infrastructure improvement programme: We’ve set up 134 playgrounds in some of the remotest villages. Around 24 schools already have classroom furniture, with this number increasing to 140 in the coming months. Around 120 schools have been electrified and powered through solar energy.
Teacher training programme: We annually train hundreds of teachers in multiple methodologies to improve the teaching-learning process in the classroom. Our training programmes are held in the harshest of winters in Ladakh, with temperatures dipping down to minus 25 degree celsius and teachers walking for hours to reach the training centres. We have so far trained over 1,500 teachers in the last seven years.
Library programme: We’ve set up libraries in 250 schools and are working with the local administration to replicate the library programme across all 900 schools. We’ve translated 40 titles into Bhoti and distributed over 21,000 storybooks to school children across Ladakh.
Map my school: We’ve built a technology platform that has every school geo mapped and placed on a map of Ladakh giving travellers an opportunity to find about these schools on their travel route.
DigiLab project: This is our most ambitious programme that brings offline hybrid digital learning solutions to the remote village through the provision of solar electricity, tablets, customised and personalised digital curriculum in a well-furnished lab that is supported by multiple workshops by the foundation’s team through the year.
The content will enable each child to learn independently while being guided by his teacher and also allow for tracking of student performance centrally. The solution has been designed to work anywhere, in any remote village, and works even in areas with no electricity, mobile connectivity or network.
We’ve set up DigiLabs in 103 schools with that number being increased to 150 in the coming months.
How did the crowdfunding platform ImpactGuru.com help in this mission?
We recently ran a campaign on ImpactGuru to fund one of our Book Translation projects and we successfully reached our campaign goal.
Our recent campaign helped us fundraise to set up a complete playground set in a very remote school in Kargil district, Ladakh. We have been very happy with the visibility that these campaigns have given us, not to mention the fact that we have been able to reach our fundraising goals each time.
What are the upcoming projects?
We are keen on expanding DigiLab Project to other parts of the country. We are especially interested in going to the other mountainous regions like the North-east and are gathering funds and supporters for the initiative.