In the aftermath of the 1962 war with China, at the request of the Ven.19th Bakula Rinpoche, the Government of India established a residential school for Ladakhi students in 1964 in New Delhi. Initially housed within the Ladakh Budh Vihar at Bela Road, this institution was named the Ladakh Institute of Higher Studies. It was affiliated with the Sampoornanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi and focused on teaching Sanskrit and Tibetan.
Bakula Rinpoche entrusted the late Lama Lobzang Ley with selecting the first batch of students. Over the years, the school expanded its reach, opening admissions to students from across the Himalayan region. As the number of students grew, in the 1970s, the government relocated the school from the Ladakh Budh Vihar to Alipur Village in Delhi. During this transition, the school was affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and its name was changed to Vishesh Kendriya Vidyalaya.
In the following years, the school was moved to Delhi Cantonment. By the 1990s, it was further shifted to Ghaziabad. Unfortunately, by the early 2000s, the school was permanently closed.
In the above pictures, my late father, Aba Lobzang Thustob Ley, is seen teaching at the Ladakh Institute of Higher Studies in the Ladakh Budh Vihar, New Delhi, around 1964-65. Sitting to his left are some prominent Ladakhis, and on the far right in the second picture is Ajang Tsering Samphel, former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA).
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