‘Rancho wall’ not being razed, just relocated, clarifies Leh school

The Druk Padma Karpo School in Leh has clarified that it is not razing the wall, which is named after the character played by superstar Aamir Khan in Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots. Based on the character, Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad, the wall famous as ‘Rancho Wall’ is just being relocated.

Speaking to news agency ANI, the principal of the school, Stanzin Kunzang, said that the school administration had decided to relocate and replicate the wall just 200-300 metre away. The reason for the same is that it had become “very difficult to control the large number of tourists visiting it everyday”.

“I would like to clarify that we are only relocating and replicating the wall 200-300 m away at main tourist centre. It's being done to keep children safe. Tourists used to enter hostels, use students' toilets, leave them dirty and litter plastic bottles,” said the school principal.

J&K: Stanzin Kunzang, principal of a school in Leh which has 'Rancho Wall', featured in the film '3 Idiots', says, 'We have decided to relocate & replicate the wall 200-300 m away as it had become very difficult to control the large no. of tourists visiting it everyday.' (28.09) pic.twitter.com/KL31D02LAq — ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2018

The wall was shot in a scene when one of the characters, Chatur, tries to urinate on it and gets electrocuted by an ingenious invention of school children. The school later painted it as the 'Rancho Wall' which became a picture spot for tourists.

"The movie gave a lot of publicity to the school and it became a must visit for the tourists visiting Ladakh. However, we realised that the purpose of having a school in the area was getting defeated. Not only students were getting distracted by the tourists flocking the school but also everyday the campus was being reduced to a litter ground," the school principal had earlier told news agency PTI.

Set up in 1998 by the Druk Padma Karpo Education Society, the school was partially destroyed in the flash floods and landslides that hit the town in 2010, but was renovated thereafter.

The school has won numerous awards for its architecture, including the best green architecture award, the most environment-friendly building and also the best architecture design award. 

At present, there are 719 students in the school, of which 281 are residential students from remote areas of Ladakh, while the rest are day scholars.