Gitanjali JB

Founder

Founder of Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL)

Gitanjali JB is the founder of Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL)[1], an Indian non-profit working on education from Leh.

Gitanjali JB, also known as Gitanjali J Angmo, is an Indian social entrepreneur and educationist who is co-founder, chief executive and dean of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL). She founded the institute in 2017 with her husband, the engineer and education reformer Sonam Wangchuk, as an alternative model of higher education for mountain communities.

HIAL teaches through context-based and experiential learning, focusing on sustainable development, entrepreneurship and practical solutions for Himalayan communities. Its philosophy, in Wangchuk's formulation, replaces the conventional three Rs with what the institute calls the three Hs: head, heart and hands.

Early life and education

She was born in 1972 or 1973 in Balasore, Odisha, and was named Gitanjali Jain Bhattacharje. She took a degree in physics from Fakir Mohan University and an MBA in marketing and finance from the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.

She is a trained ballet and Odissi dancer and a black belt in karate, and competed at a world karate championship in the United States in 2009.

Career

After working in the corporate sector she moved into entrepreneurship, founding a number of ventures in education, healthcare and publishing. She has also advised the Maharashtra International Education Board and directed a Cambridge-affiliated school in Chennai.

In 2017 she co-founded the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh, and has been its chief executive and dean since. The institute runs programmes designed for students from mountain regions, combining classroom study with fieldwork on problems such as water scarcity, tourism and local livelihoods.

Recognition

She received the Women Transforming India Award from NITI Aayog in 2022 for her contribution to education and community development.[2][3][4]

Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL)

Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), based in Leh, is an alternative-education institute working with youth from Himalayan regions on practical, hands-on learning in engineering, ecology and culture aimed at tackling mountain-community challenges.

Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL) reports the following, on its own site: