Sowing the seeds of Sunaulo Sikkim: How the PS Golay Model is securing our children’s future

Dr Pratik Sharma (Kashyap)

“No child's dreams should be limited by their family's economic condition”: CM PS Golay

On this Children’s Day, as we celebrate the boundless potential, creativity and hope embodied in our youngest generation, it is a moment to reflect on a profound shift in Sikkim’s governance. What happens when a leader’s personal conviction becomes state policy? You get the ‘PS Golay Model’. Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) has often spoken of his own early hardships, but it was his heartfelt declaration, “No child's dreams should be limited by their family's economic condition”, that truly defined his mission. This is not a political slogan; it is the founding charter of a Sunaulo Sikkim, built on the promise of its children.

The genius of the PS Golay Model is its understanding that to build a house, you must first secure the foundation. Before we can speak of student excellence, we must speak of teacher dignity. For years, our education system saw dedicated teachers trapped in a cycle of precarity, their focus diverted by job insecurity. The historic ‘Sikkim Adhoc Teachers’ Regularisation Policy, 2021’ was a masterstroke of empathetic governance. It regularised over 1,692 teaching and 310 non-teaching staff, replacing anxiety with security and respect. This was followed by clear career paths, like the 30% reservation for in-service promotions, and even investments in their holistic well-being, such as 200-hour yoga training for mental and emotional health. The message was clear: in PS Golay’s Government in Sikkim, educators are cherished professionals, not just temporary staff.

With that foundation secure, the government began a meticulous assault on every barrier—big and small—that stands between a child and their potential. Consider the journey of a young girl from a remote village. What stops her? The ‘PS Golay Model of Governance’ asks this question relentlessly. Is it the monsoon rains that make the walk to school impossible? The government provides Gumboots. Is it a lack of transport to college? The state provides 10 new buses and 7 ambulances for government colleges. Is it the taboo and cost of menstruation, which causes nearly one in four girls to drop out? The revolutionary ‘Bahini Yojana’ steps in, delivering free sanitary napkins to over 65,086 school and 17,000 college girls, ensuring dignity and continuity. This is governance that listens and solves.

But this model does not just remove barriers; it builds launchpads. For a family watching their child excel at a new ‘Chief Minister’s Model School’ at Assam Lingzey, with its state-of-the-art AI and VR labs, the dream of becoming a doctor is no longer a distant fantasy. It was once a “Rs 1 crore” dream, far beyond the reach of an ordinary family. Today, with the state's 50 free MBBS seats for government school students, a first in the entire country, it is a tangible reality.

And what if their dreams lie even further afield? The ‘Nar Bahadur Bhandari Fellowship’ provides up to Rs 50 lakh for our brightest to attend the world’s top 20 universities, from Stanford to Imperial College. Yet, in a stroke of holistic genius, the ‘Apatan Fellowship’  simultaneously funds Ph.D. scholars preserving our own local languages. The ‘PS Golay Model’ is telling our children: “Your ambition is our command, whether it leads you to Stanford or back to the heart of your own heritage.”

Do you see the architecture? This is not a random assortment of schemes. It is a seamless, fully-funded ecosystem. A child is kept in school by ‘Bahini’, inspired in a ‘CM’s Model School’, coached for free by the ‘Lakshya Centre of Excellence’ for their IIT-JEE exams and funded all the way to graduation by an extended ‘Chief Minister’s Meritorious Scholarship Scheme’. This is the ‘PS Golay Model of Governance’ in action: a meticulous, compassionate and visionary system for nurturing human potential from the ground up.

On this Children’s Day, we are not just celebrating our children; we are celebrating a state that has chosen to place them at the absolute centre of its purpose. The seeds of Sunaulo Sikkim are being sown today—in every school that receives a new computer, in every girl who receives a ‘Bahini’ pack, and in every student who dares to dream of an MBBS or an Ivy League degree, knowing their government stands behind them. A ‘People’s Chief Minister’ is building a Sikkim where the “youth are not just the future, but the driving force of the present”. As we look to the horizon, we can be confident in this: our children’s golden future is bright and it is secure with Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang at the helm.

Happy Childrens Day 2025