The 38th Founding Anniversary of the Tibetan SOS Children’s Village (TCV) and 32nd Inter House Athletics Meet 2013 was celebrated with great fervour and zeal at SOS TCV Choglamsar, Leh on 12th Sept. 2013. The event started on the 10th  Sept. and on 12th it was the final event in which students of TCV Choglamsar as well as the students of TCV Agling and  the staff members of the schools participated with enthusiasm and their hard work to make the event successful.

The inception of this village dates back to 1975 with it’s headquarter in Dharamsala. In Ladakh TCV have seven schools in and around Leh. TCV all over India has 16, 500 Tibetan refugee students registered under them  out of which 1947 are in TCVs based in Ladakh.

Executive Councillor for Tourism Shafi Lassu was the Guest of Honour for the occasion and former Union Minister P. Namgyal was the Chief Guest and they presented the winners of Athletics with prizes.

The celebration began with the House March Past in which all the four house (Triral, Nyatri, Tsongtsen and Trisong) including the Agling House presented the audience with a neat march past and an honoured salute to the Guest of Honour followed by the Tibetan and Indian national anthem. A minute’s silence was observed in the memory of the Martyrs who laid their lives amidst the fight of Tibet’s freedom.   
     
The Director of TCV Leh Kalsang Phuntsok welcomed all the guests and people present on the occasion. He also thanked His Holiness the Dalai Lama for being a driving force for them and called Him an inspiration and embodiment of compassion and kindness. He also thanked all the organizations and sponsors supporting them. He expressed his gratitude towards the local Indian Administration for the tremendous support and help they have been getting generously, and also to SNM Hospital for providing the children with best medical attention and care available. He also thanked the children, parents, and guests for having joined them on the occasion and he asked the people of the villages to stay united and keep working for the good cause of the children.
 
Executive Councillor for Tourism Shafi Lassu in his speech appreciated the Director and the members to have organized such a grand event on the occasion. He said, “The SOS Leh is not only doing a yeoman service for the Tibetan people but it is also the society of Ladakh in the field of values, tradition and Tibetan culture. They have produced number of intellectuals in the field of education and in the present council members we have two products of SOS TCV School, is the glaring example of it and we hope more and more students of Ladakh will get education from this school.” He also extended his heartfelt greetings and prays for the Long Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama who he said builds schools based on equality, love and compassion. 

He also said that education is the primary requirement for everyone in today’s world and it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to propagate it.  He further added, “By education I don’t mean to increase the level of literacy; education means the provision of quality and wholesome education so that the youths will become a responsible citizen of the world.” He urged the stake holders of TCV to make merit as the benchmark because we live in a world which is rapidly becoming more intellectual. So become a better custodian of the Tibetan culture, Tibet’s future and being the one who will have to fight for the cause of Tibet they have to be great intellectuals. He assured that LAHDC will extend all kinds of help and support to improve the education level of TCVs.

Along with this the Guest of Honour declared the opening of the 32nd Inter House Athletics Meet followed by some cultural programmes and the main athletic competition among the different houses in various fields. 366 students from junior section performing yoga and the display of Karate by the senior students were the highlights besides the competitions.

At the end the winners were awarded with Trophies by the Chief Guest in which Triral House bagged the first prize with total of 276 points, followed by a vote of thanks by the school Principal.