ABOUT US

ZANSKAR : SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY OF A SMALL COMMUNITY OF A REMOTE AND CLOSED VALLEY TO A PROUD AND EDUCATED SOCIETY

The best gift one can give to a community is education. It becomes far more precious and meaningful when it reaches a remotely located community which remains cut off for more than six months in a year from the rest of the world due to its difficult geographic location. Zanskar valley of Ladakh, is one such place. It was the people of Zanskar themselves who decided to give this gift to their own children with their own initiative and available local resources.

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Zanskar in winter moon light Stanzin Kunkhen -6653-01

ZANSKAR IN WINTER MOON LIGHT (Courtesy: STANZIN KUNKHEN)

ZANSKAR : A HEAVEN IN SNOW DESERT

ZANSKAR is a semi-desert valley on the northern flanks of the Himalayas. Spread over 7000 sq km. at an elevation of 3500-7135 meters its population is just about 11,500. In the extremely cold winter (October-May) when temperature goes down to -25 Celcius the valley remains cut off from the rest of the world due to snow. A small window of one month in Jan-Feb opens when the local people can walk over the frozen Zanskar river (the famous ‘Chadar-Road’) to treck to Leh or Manali. Summer (June-Sept) is the best time to visit when the temperature remain between -2 C and 30 C. That is also the time to enjoy the sweetness of its fresh peas.

HOW TO REACH ZANSKAR

Currently there are three routes to reach Padum which is the main centre of Zanskar valley:
  1. Leh-Kargil-Padum (New Delhi to Leh by Air/Road; Leh-Kargil-Padum 500 km
  2. Srinagar-Kargil-Padum (N.Delhi-Srinagar by Air/Road; Srinagar-Padum 450 km
  3. Manali-Padum (New Delhi to Manali by Air(Delhi-Bhuntar)/Road, Manali to Padum about 275 km - under construction (2022)
Dalai Lama Riding a Yak in Zanskar 1980 T-0000201 C-VIJAY KRANTI

H.H. DALAI LAMA ON A YAK IN ZANSKAR in 1980 (Courtesy: VIJAY KRANTI)

MARIANNE ATHENSTAEDT AT SECPAD SCHOOL Math213 (1)

Mrs. Marianne Athenstaedt with another Guest During a School Event

AN ANGEL TRECKER FROM GERMANY

An adventure loving, enthusiastic trekker and a kind hearted German lady Mrs. Marianne Athenstaedt fell in love with Zanskar on her first visit in 1979. Later, after 1992 she became a regular visitor to Zanskar for long stays. She noticed the absence of a good functioning school in Zanskar as the valley remained locked for over six months in a year due to the snow blocking all passes around the Zanskar Valley.

This severly affected the local government schools where teachers from Srinagar or Jammu lacked enthusiasm to work in a place like Zanskar. Children of families who could afford heavy educational expenses could go to cities like Leh,Chandigarh and Delhi but were hesitant to return after their studies were complete. Children of families with smaller financial resources had hardly much choices. Seeing such a sad situation Marianne encouraged her friend and host Sonam Namgail to start a local school which could function throughout the year with local teachers.

MARIANNE ATHENSTAEDT: AN ADVENTUROUS TOURIST AND A KIND SUPPORTER

Namgail’s initiative and Marianne’s encouragement finally led to the founding of SECPAD MODEL SCHOOL in 1996. Initially she provided substantial financial support to the school from her personal resources. Later she founded ‘Reinhard and Marianne Athenstaedt Foundation in the memory of her late husband Reinhard Athenstaedt and ensured that the financial support to the school became regular.

This generous and consistent financial support from the Foundation has helped the SECPAD Society to develop basic functional infrastructural assets like class rooms, labs, assembly and exam hall, a playground, solar lights and solar water heater. Provision of daily Mid-Day Meal to all students and a small hostel with warm bedding, food, secure boarding for boys and girls (70 hostel students) have encouraged the locals and other families from distant villages to send their children to the school throughout the teaching session.

Following the sad demise of Marianne on May 12, 2004 the Reinhard and Marianne Athenstaedt Foundation has kept the school running to keep the dream of this courageous and kind German lady alive.

Marianne Athenstaedt- IMG_1311a

(Late) Mrs. Marianne Athenstaedt

NAMGAIL SONAM PRESIDENT SECPAD -Photo-Vijay Kranti-DSC_8802

Mr. NAMGAIL SONAM, President SECPAD

HOW TO CONTACT ‘SECPAD’

(Your donations and CSR contributions qualify for Income Tax  exemptions under section 80G of the IT-Act, 1961.

Our CIT EXEPMTIONS No is:  CHANDIGAH/2020-21/12AA/10811)
For direct Bank Transfer of your DONATIONS to our School:
Our Bank Account details:
  1. BANK : JAMMU And KASHMIR BANK
  2. Branch : PADAM, ZANSKAR LADAKH-I94302
  3. Account Name : SECPAD
  4. Account No : 0151010100000671
  5. IFSC : JAKA0PADDAM  (’0’ is ‘Zero’)
  6. MICR Code : 194051018

YOUR SUPPORT IS PRECIOUS AND INVALUABLE

Your generous financial support will go a big way in achieving many of our unfulfilled dreams and immediate goals. These include:
  1. To meet the running expenses of the school
  2. New infrastructure and facilities needed for the school, its students and the staff members
  3. Mid-Day-Meal for students (170). Hostel, food, hot water and warm beddings for children (70) from poor families of distant villages
  4. To make the school sustainable and self-reliant

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