The VIS Gap Year semester balances structured group activities with opportunities for independent exploration of topics of particular interest to each participant. Its core emphases are extensive engagement with rural communities and traditional livelihoods (through trekking and homestays), and service and discovery through collaborative work with local organizations. The program is designed to create opportunities for immersion from the outset, with the first few weeks devoted to exploring the landscape of Ladakh through trekking and homestays on village farms, learning the Ladakhi language, and cultivating a strong sense of the natural and human history of the Ladakhi countryside.

The second part of the program will be based at the campus of the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh outside the main city of Leh, where participants will live and work alongside Ladakhi students of the same age. During this phase VIS participants will design an individual internship experience with a local organization engaged in work of interest to them, and create a record of their experience to present to the VIS and SECMOL community. As a group, VIS participants will contribute to a service building project and help lead English conversation sessions with local students. While in residence at SECMOL, the VIS group will hold a series of field trips, workshops, guest lectures and seminars covering a variety of topics relating to the cultural, political and natural history of Ladakh.

Some key areas of focus for our workshops and discussions will be:

• The history and current state of renewable energy technology in Ladakh, including passive and active solar systems, micro-hydro facilities, natural building methods, strategies for lighting, heating and cooking with alternative fuel sources.
• The history and evolution of Ladakhi social structures and livelihoods, from agriculture, animal husbandry and trading to the modern tourist industry.
• Religious practice and co-evolution in Ladakh, including study of Tibetan Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism.
• The political history of Kashmir and northern India.
• Regional literature and nonfiction narratives of Ladakh and India.
• Education reform in Ladakh.
• Sustainable development and globalization in Ladakh.
• Ladakhi language and the growth of a local media.

Curricular Goals for All VIS Programs

• Gain a stronger awareness of ourselves, our values and ethics, through exposure to, and attempting to understand, “otherness”.
• Promote an understanding of the inter-relations of diverse events and communities in teaching and learning any discipline.
• Develop an informed perspective on issues such as community heritage, cultural identity, sustainability, development and attitudes toward and use of natural resources, both at home and away.
• Overcome perceived “separateness” and “difference” to create new working communities.
• Promote an appreciation of diversity and community.
• Expose students to the environmental, cultural, social and political realities of local communities at home and abroad.
• Generate opportunities for cross-cultural learning, discussion and conversations on complex and urgent issues, especially those related to sustainable living and “development”.
• Promote the values and skills of listening, observing, critical thinking and questioning.