Introduction to Stanzin Saldon: The Story Of A Woman Who Dedicated Her Life To Educate The Children Of Kargil
In today’s world, education plays an extremely important role in shaping one’s life. Education is the only tool that provides us with knowledge, information, skill, and technique which helps us to know our rights and duties toward our family, society, and country.
One such region where getting a decent education, especially for a girl child, is extremely difficult. That is Kargil.
The name Kargil comes from the word Khar, meaning castle, and rKill meaning “centre” means a place between many kingdoms. Kargil lies very close to the border shared by India with our neighbour Pakistan. Because of its close proximity to the line of control, Kargil has often been the site of border conflicts between India and Pakistan. Three major wars in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999 pushed Kargil backward by decades. Kargil became known to the rest of the world, especially after the famous Kargil war in 1999.
Due to extreme weather conditions, heights of over 8780 feet, tough travel routes, no road connectivity, no network, electricity not available in most remote villages and patriarchal mindset of locals, etc, hampered the impact of education on the children. Although literacy rate of females have seen tremendous improvement after the 1999 war but its still a long way to reach the status of equity in terms of gender disparity as the rest of our country. Schools remain closed for 5 long months in a year due to extreme winters and roads getting blocked which gives only 50% teaching period, compared to other states.
A true change maker is one who takes creative action to solve a social problem.
Stanzin Saldon was one such crusader who took over the responsibility to bridge the gap in education and create an environment for change.
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