The 9^th, 10^th and the morning of the 11^th June were spent at Jantanagar, where Mr. Sonam Wangchuk was building a classroom for BASE, as a first prototype, with CSEB, ferrocement channels and climate responsive features. Mr. Sonam Wangchuk and Mr. Nirmal Kumar Tharu came already in April for a two weeks training course at Auroville and they returned with an Auram Press 3000 to start their project.

Sonam and Nirmal started the block production at Jantanagar and were doing very well. Satprem corrected a few things for block making, especially for the mix quality and the organisation of the team for a better productivity. The stabilised rammed earth foundation started and Satprem did some adjustment for the mix. This school building was a joint programme of MS Nepal and BASE and the village was contributing with free working force. The villagers were enthusiastic with the CSEB and they were enjoying very much working together for their school made of earth. This acceptation by the villagers for the CSEB was easily done, as Jantanagar village was mostly built with adobes with a few wattle and daub houses.

The 12^th and 13^th June were spent at Kathmandu for conducting two workshops on earthquake resistant and climatic responsive buildings. Satprem presented the Auroville technologies with stabilised earth for earthquake resistance and Sonam Wangchuk presented his experience in Ladakh and how to make climatic responsive buildings.

Presentation by Mr. Sonam Wangchuk

The first day was at the Department of Education and Sports. It was a technical session with about 30 engineers, architects and professionals from the Ministry of Education and Sports, Nepali Earthquake Society, Engineering University, etc. There was a lot of interest about the various stabilised earth technologies developed by the Auroville Earth Institute, especially for the earthquake resistance. It was envisaged to have a research program, jointly conducted / organised with Nepalese agencies, Indian Universities and Auroville. The workshop of the 13th June was at the Ministry of Education and Sports and about 30 officials, decision and policy makers as well as engineers were present from the Ministry of Education and Sports, World Bank, DANIDA, Embassy of Denmark, Save the Children and MS Nepal. The workshop was less technical than the first day as the focus was more on exploring policies and what the key issues were for setting up the programme of building 50,000 classrooms and transferring the technologies of Auroville as well as the experience of Sonam Wangchuk with climatic responsive buildings. The overall feedback of these workshops was extremely positive. Officers from the Ministry of Education and Sports would like to send a group to Auroville for training. Now funds have to be raised and the technology transfer set up when the Nepali government will be ready for it.

About Sonam Wangchuk

He is an Indian national from Ladakh, trans-Himalayan region, and he is currently working in Nepal for MS Nepal, as Education Advisor for EFP/BASE Bardiya. Though a Mechanical Engineer by education, he has been mostly working in the field of education reform for the last 20 years. He has been on the National Governing Council of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (EFA) in India and has also supported the Hill Council Government in Ladakh as an advisor for education. In 1988, he founded SECMOL in Ladakh (Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh) www.secmol.org, which aimed to reform the educational system of Ladakh. Sonam also specialised in solar passive systems and low cost solar water heaters.
Sonam was granted several awards, such as: India Real Heroes Award by CNN IBN Channel in 2008, Green Teacher Award by Sanctuary Asia Magazine in 2005, Ashoka Fellowship by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public in 2002, Man of the Year by The Week magazine India in 2001 and the Governors Medal, J&K State Government, India in 1996