A biography for Sonam Wangchukhasn’t been written yet.
“Education was not about consumption, but about contentment with less and less. This is what Buddha taught and this is what the Vedas say.”
“Our young ones have always been shoulder to shoulder with grown-ups, learning on the job in the field, facing challenges. They were never designed to sit and listen or scribble.”
“A lot of times we hear that nothing good can happen in government schools. The reason nothing can happen is that the children of those who have a voice do not study in them.”
“The Indian government has been taking some lead in several environmental initiatives, like the international solar alliance, many green initiatives in schools, lots of river reservations projects.”
“We need to explore our own deserts and land, which need to be healed and managed on the planet itself. It is not the time to use and throw this planet and we need to explore deep within more than without. Space exploration should be used to quench human thirst.”
“It is important to engage students by focussing at what they wanted to do, rather than forcing them to do something.”
“My journey has mainly been driven by empathy towards people who I thought were suffering.”
“In the past 30 years, I have been trying to make education more relevant as our old education system valorises production and consumption.”
“I expect nothing from the government but I expect everything from people. There is a need to update ourselves, our values and lifestyle.”
“Ladakh has changed a lot. Flash floods are common, followed by drought.”
“There weren't any schools in my village, so I learnt to read and write from my mother. I played in the fields, sowing seeds, working with animals, jumping in the river, climbing trees.”
“I believe that education should be about healing the earth and dealing with the crises that we are in.”
“Education needs to be linked with life and should take into count the ground situation in different parts of India.”
“We should choose simple ways of living... to live in harmony with nature by adopting simpler technologies and using natural resources innovatively.”
“Not that I did not have any other skills, but I loved teaching students, sharing with them my knowledge in sciences, maths or languages.”
“When traders will start cancelling orders from China it will send a powerful message to Chinese government that antagonising India will extract a huge price.”