Sonam Wangchuk Raises ₹1.

8 Crore
For HIAL On Milaap
October 24, 2017

October 16, 2017, Bangalore: Everything around us has changed

drastically in the last 150 years. But our education system has not
evolved much. Focus is still on theoretical teaching with very little that
prepares the students for real life in the real world. No wonder our
college and university graduates finish a ritual and get their degrees
but are highly unemployable, according to various studies. Often,
employers end up re-educating the fresh recruits at their own expense.

The situation is even worse in Ladakh due to the absence of functional

universities in the region. As a result, there is a mass exodus of youth
to cities like Jammu and Chandigarh where they live like educational
refugees, and learn very little that is of relevance to their lives and
consequently returning as misfits for the mountain environment.

Sonam Wangchuk, an innovator and educationist, is working to solve

issues like education, culture and environment by setting up a one-of-
a-kind university. He wants to break down the conventional way of
thought process and make people understand the practical application
of knowledge. He wants to use his 25 years of experience and scale up
the impact he created at the Student’s Educational and Cultural
Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL ) to start an alternative university for
mountain development as well create a fertile ground for further
innovations, called the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh
(HIAL).
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 The Proposed University

The Government of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council

(LAHDC), Leh, has supported the concept by earmarking 200 acres of
land on the Phyang desert. And this very desert is already starting to
become green using the famous Ice Stupa artificial glacier technique, a
project initiated by HH Chetshang Rinpochey, the United Nation’s
Ambassador for Mountain Partnership, executed in partnership with
SECMOL.

The University is being spearheaded by this renowned social

entrepreneur which will need funds of INR 7 crore in the first phase.
While Sonam has announced that the award money from his Rolex
Award for Enterprise will be contributed as seed money towards the
university project, it will definitely need much more support.

This is where Milaap, India’s leading crowdfunding platform, stepped in

to enable raising funds for the setting up of HIAL. It enables people to
contribute any amount that they can towards this cause. Sonam’s
recent KBC appearance has further enabled this project as Milaap has
witnessed considerable traction, post the appearance.

Sonam stated, “We are glad to have Milaap as our partner in this
endeavour. With the support and contribution of many such institutions
and individuals, we will build HIAL which will engage youths from
multiple Himalayan countries in Research & Development to tackle the
issues faced by mountain people, especially in the domains of
education, culture, and the environment. Like SECMOL, the university
aims to break the rigid boxes of conventional thinking, be relevant to
people’s lives, and encourage learning via practical application of
knowledge.”
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 Anoj Viswanathan, Co-founder, Milaap added, “We at Milaap are quite
conscious of the power of crowdfunding for a cause as noteworthy as
this. We will ensure that we highlight this cause to our network of
donors from past campaigns and urge everyone out there to contribute
whatever amount they can towards this initiative of practical education
which makes a difference to society.”
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