DIGITAL EDUCATION
FOR HIMALAYAN BUDDHIST MONKS LIVING 13,600 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL
A team of five young people with their project manager, belonging from diverse background and states of India came together for their new endeavour. The adventure brought with itself challenges unseen, weather unnoticed and joys unparalleled. They were all headed for a school in Tabo, Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. The intention of Serkong School's principal-Acharya Tenzin Dorjee was to initiate a fundraising campaign to renovate the computer labs for remote Himalayan kids and the village. This reflects the awareness towards importance of digitalization in the 21st century and an incentive towards building a capable and well-trained workforce for the world. Let’s dive deep into this capacity building work of 2021 that happened around snow covered Himalayas in extreme and scarce conditions while the writer connects us to the principal of this school- Serkong School.
Tabo is a small town situated in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. Situated 3280 meters above sea level, Tabo is a valley-locked village in the tough Himalayan terrain. This village has a public school- The Serkong School. Serkong Public School Tabo is a school situated in the Lahaul and Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh and is a wellknown school in rural India. Serkong Public school was established in 1999 on Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche’s 15th birthday. Surrounded by splendid Himalayan mountains and an expanse of blue sky, education flourishes here, in traditional as well as modern ways. Tabo is comparatively underdeveloped with essential services proving to be luxury at times. But the lifestyle
incorporates sustainability and a stress-free environment.
Tabo Monastery was founded here in 996 AD by Rinchen Zangpo, a Tibetan Buddhist translator on behalf of the king of the western Himalayan Kingdom of Guge, Yeshe-Ö. The monastery is also known as the ‘Ajanta of Himalayas’ for the murals and stucco sculptures carved on the wall like the Ajanta caves. Tabo monastery is the largest monastic complex in Spiti with 9 temples, 23 chortens, 4 decorated Stupas, monks, and nun’s chambers respectively. Tabo provides a peek both on Tibetan and on Indian culture and history, for the religion and a style of art that have both disappeared from their land of origin.
With successful completion of the campaign by efforts of its brilliant team members, they joined together under the guidance of principal and project manager to impart computer literacy to monks of Tabo Monastery. “Digital learning becomes a very usual occurrence in the modern world”, says Acharya Tenzin Dorjee; the abbot of Tabo monastery felt monks of the monastery should be digital literate. I had discussion with the abbot about giving classes on digital literacy. I told abbot that we have a team of interns who have very good knowledge about the subject, who could help in this program. Thus, this initiative comes up.”
The monks living in Tabo Monastery are well read and follow their Buddhist lifestyle. However, their eagerness to learn computer and an innate desire to be digitally literate not only in young monks but also monks aged 30 is something to behold. Every evening at 5 PM, computer trainings took place in the existing computer lab with these young teachers. When asked about how this idea sprouted in minds of authorities, here is what Principal has to say- “The digital education system revolutionized the old chalk and board process of learning in classroom. I felt, we too needed to follow this new digital education system in our school. Meanwhile Yashraj, a volunteer English teacher in 2019 brought the idea of employing a team of interns in digital literacy, which I thought it would immensely help in moving forward in the direction of digital literacy in our school.”
Digital literacy is a multi-dimensional aspect that creates a holistic development for the individual, boosting their critical thinking, functional skills as well as analytical skills to find, evaluate, and collaborate on information. In today’s world, access to information and communication is based on technology and the ability to interact with devices becomes a skill as essential as cooking.
Information Society policies have shifted its focus to bridge the “Digital Divide” in their respective countries. The gap between citizens from different socio-economic backgrounds about their ability and opportunity to access and make use of Information and Communication Technologies is considered as barrier to nation’s development and participation to global information society.
ICT continues to have a significant impact in people’s lives and global economy. In India, post globalisation era from 1990s, saw a tremendous growth in usage of digital technologies leading to contemporary times where transactions happen via one click and information like weather reports, disaster alert, market failure or managing medical resources comes at a real-time speed of light. But is everyone in the picture taking equal advantage and giving equal contribution in developing countries like India? Are there people left out of the game and feel excluded and disarmed because technology comes with a cost which some people cannot afford?
Let’s zoom in to our case and see why it felt essential to impart digital education to the students. Acharya says- “Students today are using the immense power of digital media to explore, connect, create and learn in ways never before imagined. These activities offer many opportunities. Lack of knowledge in digital world can result in cyber bullying, digital cheating, and safety and security concerns. That is why imparting digital education is very essential.” He adds a global perspective saying- “We must understand that in this vast virtual world to function properly,
we must all be good digital citizens while respecting each other’s ideas and opinions.”
Capacity Building comes into play when we talk about bridging digital divide. There have been many cases across the world where students, employees, NGOs reached to communities with their resources and helped them build an understanding around computers and Internet.
The case in this article talks about the efforts by young interns living up in Himalayas doing what they could to impart basic computer knowledge to monks and students, The teachings included- Hardware and Software of computer, How to Switch it On and Off, typing and making documents on Microsoft Word, making presentations, inserting images and documents, creating excel sheets, painting, and other essential stuffs. One must feel this as basic knowledge that everybody knows, a teaching that is meant for lower grade students in schools, but we don’t realise the generation gap, we fail to see the bigger picture where access plays a bigger role and awareness stands out. “We were delighted by monk’s curiosity and happiness on learning to create a document on their own” recalls one of the interns. Another adds- “I was so humbled when I saw them coming before time wearing their monk attires in front of computer lab with little kids. I remember one of them was very poetic and wrote a great love poem in Word. It never felt like an additional work, it was joy and collective reading.” The writer too being one of the members describes the classroom as dimly lit in dusk hours, overseeing big mountains, little green plants and simple desks and chairs with pale yellow wall decorated with colourful handmade chart papers demonstrating parts of computers. There was a bond of mutual trust that developed between students and young teachers from the first day. “Every day after giving our lesson, we left the class and there was sky in its purple, red and pink hues telling us Thank-You. We played cricket with them one day when we lost electricity!” recalls another member amusingly.
Basic trainings were done and dusted. That is how we empower, build, and foster digital literacy. Reviewing facts around the world, one can understand the growing need for more such initiatives.
When asked about how organizations can go about it, Acharya made a great comment which can inspire communities across the world to come together- “The digital literacy is an essential part of managing workforce in every organization.
These days running an efficient team without digital literate employees is virtually impossible.
So, employing maximum employees with digital literacy helps in the success of an organization. We can further motivate our employees and make programmes apart from their regular work to contribute to digital literacy. I am talking about making this as part of work culture just like going green is in trend, we can make going digitally aware. We can make this an indicator of company’s performance especially in education industry and pay our employees bonuses for the same”.
Can we build communities which foster digital literacy to those who were left aloof? Can we extend a hand to help somebody type? Can we find a minute to tell our parents how our digital devices work? Can we call upon leaders and change makers to talk about this? Because we can no longer live in the idea that everybody has Internet. It is still a privilege, under- developed and developing countries are an example.
May we get inspired from this school, Principal Acharya Tenzin Dorjee and these beautiful young souls who cared for somebody.
Understanding the plight of somebody facing anxiety and performance pressure because of technical handicap is real and opens our conscience to recognise this as a skill. If you are reading this digital magazine, I take that you are digitally literate; I hope that you will impart this to people in need. Someone for somebody ensures everyone has somebody in their support. While running after DeFi, remember that somebody still don’t own a laptop so that our young minds are mindful and inclusive in their approach.
(The writer is a former intern at Serkong School and is currently studying Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy from Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi. Excerpts about history of Tabo have been taken from works of another content intern Kruteeka Nalatwadkar. She is thankful to the principal for the interview and other team members namely Kritika Gayatri, Yashraj Singh Kairal, Sheetansh Sayal and Shobhit Gupta.
You can find Serkong School on LinkedIn as well as on Instagram as @serkongschool