The local Druk Padma Karpo School, which shot to fame after it featured in the Aamir Khan-starrer “3 Idiots”, has decided to raze the ‘Rancho wall’ and ban the entry of tourists as the authorities felt it was becoming a distraction for students.
The wall was shot in a scene when one of the characters, Chatur, tries to urinate on it and gets electrocuted by an ingenious invention of schoolchildren. The school later painted it the wall, which became a picture spot for tourists.
“The movie gave a lot of publicity to the school and it became a must-visit for the tourists visiting Ladakh. However, we realised that the purpose of having a school in the area was getting defeated. Not only were the students getting distracted by the tourists flocking the school but the campus was also being reduced to a litter ground,” said school principal Stanzin Kunzang. “Inspired by the vision of His Holiness the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, spiritual leader of Ladakh, the school aims to provide to Ladakhi children modern education, which is grounded in their own culture and which could prepare them to lead happy and productive lives,” said Kunzang. Set up in 1998 by the Druk Padma Karpo Education Society, the school was partially destroyed in flash floods and landslides that hit the town in 2010, but was renovated thereafter.
