My Salute to Gen Lobsang Phuntsok La
By Lobsang Rinchen (Rabgyal), Government Upper Primary School Teacher, Dudunghar
A proverb goes that "the strength of a team is each of its members and the strength of each member is the team." It took us a long time to find a voice who could lead us, who can bring a revolution to the field of education, and now that we have it. We are not going to let it go in vain! We found it in a person who lives and works in the jungle of Datse*, a remote part of Dakpaneng+—Gen Lobsang Phuntsok la, the founder and director of Jhamtse Gatsal Children's Community.
Government School students helped by Jhamtse Gatsal
The role of teachers in anyone’s life is not of a single day; it impacts the whole personality building of the students. Teachers are known as nation builders, but what kind of a society and nation would it be when the teachers are not inspired by their profession? Allow me to go back ten years. We, the teachers at the government schools along with our Block Education Officers (BEOs), strongly felt a need to improve the quality of education in our government schools.
We approached Gen Lobsang la to lead us, inspire the teachers of the entire Tawang district, and inspire the students of Tawang, but Gen Lobsang la was hesitant to take up the task as he was unsure what he could contribute to the modern educational practices. Being a product of the Tibetan Buddhist monastic educational system in the ancient Nalanda tradition, he was unfamiliar with what would be of benefit from this training to ours. However, we were steadfast in our requests and finally, a few years ago, Genla relented and accepted our requests to organize some training workshops for the teachers.
So, a few 1-2 day workshops were organized for the teachers by Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community in six areas of our district with motivational talks on 'The Three Essentials for the 21st Century—Educating the Heart, Mind, and Body' under the 'Educate The Educators' theme. Educating the heart, mind, and body, which is the comprehensive educational framework that Jhamtse Gatsal follows, is in complete alignment with India’s National Education Policy 2020. The talk and the workshop motivated hundreds of teachers. The feedback from every teacher was amazing and requested us to organize more such training sessions.
Last year, Gen Lobsang la brought highly specialized trainers from Delhi to our remote location at Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community for a 3-Day SEE Learning Educator Prep Workshop. SEE Learning, which stands for social, emotional, and ethical learning, is a training program designed by Emory University in the US under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This training was attended by more than a hundred educators from all over the district. An orientation for this workshop was organized by Ms. Ophelia Lobo, an English Teacher and Certified Level 1 SEE Learning Facilitator from Jhamtse Gatsal. This was a first-of-its-kind deep training that was made accessible to us teachers within our region. All those who participated in the 3-day workshop found it very beneficial and meaningful. To say nothing of being hosted and lovingly cared for by the staff of Jhamtse Gatsal during these 3-4 days on campus. Everyone left feeling deeply connected and nourished by the experience.
Today, we believe that Jhamtse Gatsal Children's Community is not just a school, but the most important learning center in Tawang; in particular, an essential teacher training center for the entire district. We believe that Jhamtse (love and compassion in our local language) not only plays a key role in the development of the Jhamtse Gatsal Children's Community, but also the government schools and society at large.
On a more personal note, we at Government Upper Primary School, Dudunghar, also learn unconditional compassion from Jhamtse Gatsal Children's Community and Gen Lobsang la from their action of being sympathetic towards the needs of the poor students in our self-managed hostel (residence hall). We, the teachers at my government school, started a hostel a few years ago to enable the children from some of our poorest and remotest families to have access to quality education. Currently, the hostel accommodates 60 children ranging from grades 1-8. Around 2016, we started facing difficulties in managing adequate rations to support the healthy growth of the children in our care. We shared our concerns with Gen Lobsang la who came and visited our school with the oldest children of Jhamtse Gatsal. The challenges that those young adults observed on their first visit to our school compassionately triggered them into action. They resolved to help us as they best could.
So, since then, Jhamtse Gatsal sends monthly rations for our students in the hostel by giving up one dinner a week every Wednesday, which is considered an auspicious day for us. The collected rations come from every child and staff member at Jhamtse Gatsal—a strength of about 150 members—giving up four meals in a month. In this way, we can run our self-managed hostel more easily thanks to the help and support from Gen Lobsang la and Jhamtse Gatsal. Hundreds of students have had and continue to have healthy and nutritious food every day because of the compassionate and action-driven choices of the children and staff members of Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community.
The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. S/He is the one who gets people to do the greatest things. Thank you, Gen Lobsang Phuntsok la and Jhamtse Gatsal for inspiring us daily to do great things!
* The local Monpa name for the area where Jhamtse Gatsal is located.