OUR FOUNDER
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Sakya Academy was founded by His Holiness Gyana Vajra Sakya Rinpoche, the 43rd Sakya Trizin. He is the younger son of His Holiness Gongma Trichen Rinpoche, Supreme Head of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism.
His Holiness Gyana Vajra Rinpoche belongs to the new generation of eminent exponents of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and has been giving initiations and teachings worldwide for the past twenty-five years, both alongside His Holiness Sakya Gongma Trichen Rinpoche and in a personal capacity.
His Holiness currently resides at Sakya Academy, along with his wife, Her Eminence Sonam Palkyi Sakya, and their three young children, Khöndung Dungsey Siddharth Vajra Rinpoche, Khöndung Dungsey Siddhant Vajra Rinpoche and Jetsunma Ngawang Tsejin Lhamo Sakya. His Holiness and Her Eminence look to the students as if they were their own children, and personally oversee every aspect of their upbringing, with concentrated focus on their physical and emotional wellbeing and their spiritual and educational development.
OUR DIRECTOR
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Born in Switzerland to Tibetan parents, Her Eminence Dagmo Sonam Palkyi Sakya belongs to a noble Lama lineage family that has produced several highly realised masters.
Her Eminence was married to His Holiness Gyana Vajra Rinpoche in 2008. They currently live with their three children at Sakya Academy, and serve as surrogate parents to the school’s young students.
As His Holiness has many teaching commitments abroad, Her Eminence has taken on the responsibility of managing the school, dedicating all her time and energy to ensuring that the children’s needs are seen to.
OUR HEADMISTRESS
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With over two decades of experience as English teacher at the Tibetan Homes School in Mussoorie, Mrs. Tsering Choedron brings with her a fount of knowledge and expertise. Under her able guidance, Sakya Academy has come leaps and bounds since its opening in April 2016.
The school is impeccably organised and discipline is flawless. Learning takes place in a spirit of joy and harmony. Within the short time since the school opened its doors, the children have learnt three new languages and have made extraordinary progress in their class subjects.
Under Mrs. Tsering Choedron’s dynamic leadership, there is every promise that the school will continue to move forward as a vibrant centre of learning and that it will find its place as a source of inspiration for modern educational institutions.
OUR STAFF.Sakya Academy is blessed with an enthusiastic team of resident teachers who fervently believe in the school’s mission and who go far beyond the call of duty to make it a reality. Their free time, including evenings and weekends, is readily offered up whenever the need arises. In spite of a demanding schedule and a regime of hard work, joy and laughter reign in the teachers’ quarters.
The children’s “home life” takes place in their hostel, where they are looked after by a Warden, and where they do their homework and learn their Buddhist scriptures, have their games, socialise, eat and sleep.
Behind the scenes are the nurse, cooks, cleaners and maintenance staff members, without whose participation precious learning could not take place.
OUR STUDENTS
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In their overwhelming majority, our monks originate from empoverished families in remote villages of India and Nepal, whose living circumstances are well below poverty level, alarmingly lacking in terms of employment, health, education, and housing.
Some of the older children have been with us for some time and were, until recently, part of Sakya Centre, His Holiness Sakya Gongma Trichen Rinpoche’s main monastery in Dehradun. The remaining children were brought to Sakya Academy from their villages in the autumn of 2015, those from Nepal finding safety from the harrowing conditions created by the cataclysmic earthquake that struck the country in April of that year.
One of the most appalling repercussions of the disaster was the onslaught of human traffickers scouring remote areas, luring or forcing children into slavery. We are blessed that our Sakya Academy children have not only been rescued from such a fate, but have at the same time been given the extraordinary opportunity to grow up in a caring environment where all their basic needs are catered to and, most importantly, where they can develop into educated, caring and responsible human beings.
OUR SCHOOL
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Sakya Academy is situated in a small hillside village some 12 kilometres from Dehradun, India, principal seat of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism. Sitting in quiet and serene surroundings, it is a bright and happy place. It is also a sacred space, having received the blessings of His Holiness Sakya Gongma Trichen Rinpoche, His Holiness the 42nd Sakya Trizin Rinpoche, His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin Rinpoche, the late H.E. Luding Khenchen Rinpoche and H.E. Jetsun Kushok. It is home to 155 young students favoured with the unique privilege of attending a Buddhist school endowed with the features of an English middle school.While rigorously pursuing their traditional religious studies, the students are also following the secular curriculum of a normal school, enriched by a modern approach to spirituality.