OUR BEGINNINGS
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It had long been the ambition of His Holiness Gyana Vajra Rinpoche, the 43rd Sakya Trizin, to create an institution where children could receive a world-class education in conjunction with the teachings of the Buddha and where the legacy of the Sakya Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism could be preserved for future generations.
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Rinpoche's vision finally became reality in April 2016, with the start of the first academic year at Sakya Academy. Our children are now following the standard national curriculum, as well as learning Tibetan, English and Hindi. In parallel to this, they are pursuing their traditional Buddhist scriptures and basic Philosophy studies, as well as participating in rituals and practising mindfulness meditation.
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His Holiness and his wife, Her Eminence Dagmo Sonam Palkyi Sakya, nurture their school children as if they were their own. Their elder son, Dungsey Siddharth Vajra Sakya attends the school.
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OUR VISION
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We aim to shape a new generation of Buddhist children into highly educated adults, immersed in the core teachings of the Buddha, and equipped with the strength of character needed to be good leaders.
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Our children wholeheartedly embrace this vision and are striving heart and soul to live up to the expectations that have been placed upon them. They study hard, they take care of each other, they are polite to their teachers and they are exuberantly joyful.
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Their curiosity and thirst for learning are unquenchable, as is their desire to develop along the Dharma path. The strides that they are making in this direction are both deeply touching and inspiring.
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OUR WORK
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Our work is a bold enterprise, one that begs a passionate engagement from everyone that is involved in it. We have 155 children who, previous to joining the school, had at best received a very rudimentary exposure to normal school subjects.
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Our older children, who were transferred from Sakya Centre monastery in Dehradun, had so far been immersed in a strictly monastic curriculum, dedicated to the memorising of scriptures, with only very basic tuition in Tibetan, Hindi, English and Maths. The newer arrivals, on the other hand, had little or no education at all, and most of them needed to be taught to read and write.
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Our children range in age from 5 to 19, and our sets currently run from Kindergarten up to Class 12. We are hoping to see all our students through secondary schooling and beyond. In the light of the dedication and enthusiasm of our teaching staff and of the children themselves, there is no doubt that this will come to pass.
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AN IMPORTANT CHANGE TO THE SCHOOL
The government of India has stipulated that all monasteries in India are now entitled to award degrees to their monks. With this new development, all Sakya monks are now given the chance to earn a degree in their respective monasteries. Up until now, our Academy had been the only Sakya monastery to offer an accredited secular education to its monks, while remaining a traditional Buddhist monastery.
What this change means is that it is no longer necessary for our school to continue being a fully traditional Buddhist monastery.
These new circumstances have led us to consider a new role for Sakya Academy. After much deliberation and consultation with His Holiness Trichen Rinpoche, we have decided for our school to change its status from monastery to lay school. Having said this, our school’s mission will continue to be based upon the Buddhist values of loving kindness, compassion and universal responsibility, and its core aim will be to shape our students into kind-hearted and responsible human beings. One effect of this change is that in 2022, the children began to wear normal school uniforms instead of monks’ robes. On the other hand, as Buddhist teachings and practice will keep their pivotal role in their education, they will wear monks’ robes during their religious activities.
We feel that as a lay institution, the school will attract many more students, who will in turn be able to benefit society and help make the world a better place.
