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ASER journeys through the
Himalayas
A cold desert with freezing winds and
sharp sunlight, Leh, situated among the Great Himalayan
ranges, is the largest district in the world with the lowest
population density per square km. Its height of 11,500 feet above
sea level did not deter our ASER team which reached there.
The rugged landscape and craggy mountains
were awe inspiring but made the journey extremely arduous. No
words can do justice to our experience here. The day time was bright
and sunny with little mercy from the Sun God while the nights were
chilly and had us wrapped in layers of clothing.
To start with, we were a little unsure about how the actual ASER
survey would be done since the there was an entirely new team there
this year but the support of the Deputy Commissioner along with the
coordination of the sheep husbandry department ensured that this
feeling was short lived.
Strangely, Ladakh with its districts of Leh and Kargil is one of the
few regions in the country where the ASER survey was done by a
government department. The officers from the sheep husbandry
department took the responsibility to take ASER forward and
implement the survey in this difficult terrain where some of the
villages are at an altitude of as high as 16,000 feet above sea
level besides being remotely located from each other. In sometimes
took more than a week to reach a tiny village from the district
headquarters.
Often regions that are far-flung and sparsely populated get poorly
represented but the spirit of ASER is such that little can come in
the way of our nation-wide efforts and our belief in reaching every
last child.
- Mayank Aggarwal
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