Himalayan IT Education
Site Navigation The Background The Goal The People Contact Us Organisations >> Bari Monastery CST Darjeeling Gonjang Monastery Manjushree Ravangla Tib Self Help Ctr Darj Tib Welfare Ctr Darj Resources >> Tibetan IT IT Empowerment Supporting Documents Search HimIT search the web search this site	Ravangla Background Kunpheling Tibetan Settlement is situated at Ravangla town, 66 kms from Gangtok, the capital city of Sikkim State. The altitude is about 2,134 meters above sea level, with an average temperature of 20 degrees C. The Settlement was established in 1978 by the Ministry of Home and Rehabilitation of the Government of India, to rehabilitate nearly a thousand Tibetan refugees. The initial population was 814 and the present population is 1,089. The majority of the Tibetan people in the settlement are poor and have a low standard of living. Each family has a small piece of agricultural land for their living. Due to the lack of irrigation facilities, rain-fed crop agriculture was practiced for years, mainly potato growing. But that did not last too long. The frequent hailstorms destroy the crop, and also the cost of growing potato was higher than its return from the yield. The crop yield was low due to the high altitude and cold climate. Previously many Tibetans were engaged in carpet weaving at the Settlement carpet-weaving center, but only a few are remaining now as the carpet sale has reduced considerably. The daily income for a weaver is between Rs 20 to 30. A small number of Tibetans from the settlements also attend a weekly market fair in Ravangla and nearby villages to do petty vendor business. As per the rule of the state government of Sikkim, only Sikkimese can avail the license to set up any business in Sikkim such as hotel, restaurants, shops, etc. Tibetans are not eligible for a license to own a hotel or shop. Non-Sikkimese, including Tibetan, can only do petty vendor business during weekly market fairs, which a few Tibetans are doing with very little profit margin. By and large most of the families in Ravangla are heavily dependent for livelihood on the income of husbands and sons serving in the Army, in a special unit of Army consisting only of Tibetans, run by the Indian Government. At least one member in each family in Ravangla is serving in the Army. The pay system of the Tibetan Army is not the same as the Indian Army: Tibetans are paid lower than their Indian counterparts. The settlement has a school up till VIII standard. The school is "Central School for Tibetans" administered by the central government of India. The standard of education in the school has been extremely poor. There was a little improvement in recent years, but it is still grossly inadequate. As the settlement is located in a remote area in Sikkim (and many even see Sikkim as a remote state), the teachers who have had a bad teaching record are usually sent to this place as punishment. As per the rule of the Central Schools, even if the teachers have bad teaching records, they cannot be expelled. They can be only transferred to remote areas like Ravangla as punishments. Thus, Ravangla ended up with the indolent, uninterested, and unqualified teachers of Central Schools. There are several reported cases of teachers coming to school in a state of inebriation. Most of the time, the teaching period was spent on physical and co-curricular activities rather than real education. Obviously this has had a very negative effect on the education of most of the Ravangla children. The mostly-illiterate parents of Ravangla were ill-equipped to do anything on this matter. Therefore, many students of Ravangla received a very poor basic education, and the majority of them could not continue their education. This state of affairs has led to the increasing number of school dropouts and unemployed youths in Ravangla, creating a huge social and economic problem for the society. More details, detailed plan, and budget, available upon request

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Ravangla Background

Kunpheling Tibetan Settlement is situated at Ravangla town, 66 kms from Gangtok, the capital city of Sikkim State. The altitude is about 2,134 meters above sea level, with an average temperature of 20 degrees C. The Settlement was established in 1978 by the Ministry of Home and Rehabilitation of the Government of India, to rehabilitate nearly a thousand Tibetan refugees. The initial population was 814 and the present population is 1,089.

The majority of the Tibetan people in the settlement are poor and have a low standard of living. Each family has a small piece of agricultural land for their living. Due to the lack of irrigation facilities, rain-fed crop agriculture was practiced for years, mainly potato growing. But that did not last too long. The frequent hailstorms destroy the crop, and also the cost of growing potato was higher than its return from the yield. The crop yield was low due to the high altitude and cold climate.

Previously many Tibetans were engaged in carpet weaving at the Settlement carpet-weaving center, but only a few are remaining now as the carpet sale has reduced considerably. The daily income for a weaver is between Rs 20 to 30. A small number of Tibetans from the settlements also attend a weekly market fair in Ravangla and nearby villages to do petty vendor business. As per the rule of the state government of Sikkim, only Sikkimese can avail the license to set up any business in Sikkim such as hotel, restaurants, shops, etc. Tibetans are not eligible for a license to own a hotel or shop. Non-Sikkimese, including Tibetan, can only do petty vendor business during weekly market fairs, which a few Tibetans are doing with very little profit margin.

By and large most of the families in Ravangla are heavily dependent for livelihood on the income of husbands and sons serving in the Army, in a special unit of Army consisting only of Tibetans, run by the Indian Government. At least one member in each family in Ravangla is serving in the Army. The pay system of the Tibetan Army is not the same as the Indian Army: Tibetans are paid lower than their Indian counterparts.

The settlement has a school up till VIII standard. The school is "Central School for Tibetans" administered by the central government of India. The standard of education in the school has been extremely poor. There was a little improvement in recent years, but it is still grossly inadequate. As the settlement is located in a remote area in Sikkim (and many even see Sikkim as a remote state), the teachers who have had a bad teaching record are usually sent to this place as punishment. As per the rule of the Central Schools, even if the teachers have bad teaching records, they cannot be expelled. They can be only transferred to remote areas like Ravangla as punishments. Thus, Ravangla ended up with the indolent, uninterested, and unqualified teachers of Central Schools. There are several reported cases of teachers coming to school in a state of inebriation. Most of the time, the teaching period was spent on physical and co-curricular activities rather than real education. Obviously this has had a very negative effect on the education of most of the Ravangla children.

The mostly-illiterate parents of Ravangla were ill-equipped to do anything on this matter. Therefore, many students of Ravangla received a very poor basic education, and the majority of them could not continue their education. This state of affairs has led to the increasing number of school dropouts and unemployed youths in Ravangla, creating a huge social and economic problem for the society.

More details, detailed plan, and budget, available upon request