Before the founding of the Tapriza School, there was no functioning primary school in the region. The nearest school, a three-day walk away, was located in the district capital of Dunai. Hardly any family could afford to finance the everyday school life there. Most children therefore remained without schooling; a few parents sent their children – usually their sons – to the Bön monasteries of Triten Norbutse in Kathmandu or Menri in India, where they were admitted free of charge and received an education without losing their own culture and religion. However, secular education fell by the wayside. Dissatisfied with this situation, the inhabitants of the Phoksundo region, together with the anthropologist Marietta Kind, advocated for their own school, in which the Tibetan language, local history, and culture could be considered in addition to the state curriculum. On the one hand, the parents wanted to preserve their own tradition and pass it on to the younger generation; on the other hand, they wanted a modern education to give their children better future prospects. This was the starting point for the founding of the Tapriza School with the goal of offering local education that takes both tradition and modernity into account.