Sengdruk Taktse School

Since it’s inception in 1999, Sengdruk Taktse School has been the home and learning center for over 300 Tibetan boys and girls. As a true sign of the calibre and quality of education Sengdruk Taktse offers, the first ever graduating class had the highest standardized test scores in the entire Golok region in 2008.

It would not be an overstatement to say that attending Sengdruk Taktse School has transformed the lives of hundreds of children, and basically opened up a whole new path of opportunities for them.

Take Jigme Dawa, for example. When Jigme Dawa was a young child, many unfortunate circumstances fell upon his family. As he writes,

When I was one and half years old, my mother became sick and passed away. When I was three years old, my father also died from an illness. My sister was nine years old when my father passed away. We lived together and she took care of me. We used to cry when nobody was around.Because of this situation, our principal Khentrul Kunzang Gyaltsen gave me permission to come to Sengdruk Taktse School.

Jigme Dawa was given an opportunity in his life to change his circumstances through education, and he did just that.

I am now in eighth grade. I have won awards for best student and excellence in Tibetan poetry. I always look forward to what we will study in the next semester.

Upon his graduation in 2008, Jigme Dawa and the entire 9th grade of Sengdruk Taktse School, took the standardized tests to place them into 10th grade. In China, 10th through 12th grades are somewhat like a university, or prep-school. Sengdruk Taktse School does not offer 10th through 12th grades so most students from smaller schools must take standardized tests to place them into larger schools. Some of these schools are located nearby, and others are located as far away as Beijing.

The results of the standardized test scores were astonishing. Sengdruk Taktse School scored highest out of any school in Golok in all subjects including English, Tibetan, Math, and even Chinese. Not only that, Jigme Dawa had the highest test scores out of any student in Golok. His classmate Jigme Trodral scored third highest.

What would Jigme Dawa be doing with his life right now had he not been given an opportunity and a vehicle for him to utilize and develop his naturally bright intellect? If you meet Jigme Dawa you can see right away how intelligent he is, how inquisitive he is, and how much potential he has. How many other children are there like Jigme Dawa who have not been given an opportunity or the means for them to realize their full potential in life? It is for students such as these that Sengdruk Taktse School exists.

Jigme Dawa is currently attending college (10th grade) in Beijing at the Beijing Nationalities, along with his classmates Jigme Trodral, Sangye Nyima, Thupten Norbu, and Deshek Gyamtso.