Tantar Lundup and Tsering Youdon are locals from the Zanskar region of Ladakh. Both were fortunate to receive a good education. This couple founded the Rainbow school with the support of Pierre Odier of APECIH, Switzerland.

The Rainbow School, Zanskar, was officially opened to the public in 2019 after being formally approved by the Board of State Education to carry the academic syllabus up to the 5th Standard. Since then, the school has been serving in the education sector to improve literacy in one of the most remote regions of the Himalayas—Zanskar—while upholding our traditional and ethical values.

In its first year of academic admission, the school received an overwhelmingly positive response from parents and guardians. Rainbow School began humbly, with 20 students enrolled in the kindergarten section only. However, the COVID-19 pandemic soon made physical classes impossible. To continue the educational mission, the school launched a program titled “Back to Village,” where teachers travelled to different villages, gathered students in open spaces, and assigned and checked home assignments once a week. This approach proved highly effective, and as a result, applications for admission steadily increased. Today, the school has 134 students enrolled.

At Rainbow, they use play-way methods in a child-oriented learning environment. The prime focus is on modern education rooted in traditional values and ethos.

The school is primarily financially supported by APECIH, based in Switzerland, along with many other organizations that contribute to infrastructure development and partially support the school’s operations. The school also collects a minimal one-time admission fee and an annual teaching fee, which are charged to help cover operational costs.

Today, Rainbow School has 12 qualified teaching staff and three non-teaching staff, all from local villages. This not only ensures quality education but also creates job opportunities for the local population. All our teaching staff hold valid teaching certificates in accordance with the education code.