Sujata Sahu, a teacher in a reputed Delhi school was out on a solo trek in Ladakh when due to her deteriorating health, she took shelter in a school. She was surprised to know that the school was attended by a few kids regularly and teachers trekked through mountains to get the books and uniforms.

Sahu was full of admiration for the people of Ladakh, who in spite of very difficult terrain and extremely harsh weather, were trying their best to improve their condition. Many parents sent their children to private schools which were so far away that they had to stay in hostels and dormitories. Due to lack of proper guidance, many of them dropped out and many couldn’t return to their roots.

17000 ft Foundation

The determination to come to school and learn, the eagerness of the teacher to learn something new to teach his students and the aspiration of the parents to educate their children was my inspired Sahu to drop everything and help those amazing people. Along with the tremendous support from husband Sandeep Sahu and a Ladakhi businessman Dawa Jora she set up the ‘17000 ft foundation’. She started off on her mission to provide Ladakh government schools with the right resources to further the education of their students. She introduced playgrounds and libraries which were accessed by the children with great enthusiasm. Sahu and her team persisted with their efforts to upgrade the government schools in the region with positive results. Locals now don’t send their children far away from their roots to private schools, but put them in the government school in their area.

Voluntourism

Sujata Sahu had started encouraging volunteers to participate in the mission to provide better education to the children of remote areas in Ladakh. Her team of volunteers mapped around 600 schools after a seven-month-long study. The success of the volunteer programmes helped the foundation grow and each of these schools has been geo-mapped for travellers to find. Outsiders showed enthusiasm and support for the project and also donated regularly for the cause. Digilabs were introduced in schools which helped children get to know about the world from which they were cut off due to their geographical location.

Sujata Sahu’s undying passion to educate the children living in the remote regions of Ladakh earned her the title of Iron Lady. Recently, her organisation ‘17000 ft Foundation’ electrified and digitized 120 schools in Leh and Kargil, providing solar electricity and tablets with customized digital learning content, a TV, and a server to provide offline data syncing. She now wishes to continue with her efforts for the children residing in the harsh mountainous regions of Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

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