Darjeeling, Dec. 29: The Ladakh school that became famous after Aamir Khan's film 3 idiots was released will start Classes XI and XII from the 2017 academic session, its chairman said.

Druk White Lotus School in Shey, Ladakh, locally known as Druk Padma Karpo School, was the Bollywood hit's location in 2009. In the film, Aamir's character Rancho was seen teaching.

"The school was started by my guru H.H. Gyalwang Drukpa in 2001 with 80 students who were given free education. Now, we have around 850 students and we provide free education and boarding to 380 of them. We are switching from the state (Jammu and Kashmir) board to the CBSE next year and in 2017, we will start Classes XI and XII," Drukpa Thuksey Rinpoche, the chairperson, told The Telegraph.

The school spends around Rs 50,000 on each of the 380 students every year, he said.

Thuksey Rinpoche also manages and administers the Druk Sangag Choeling monastery here, along with 62 others in the country.

"In three-four years, we have plans to start a college and set up a university," he said.

The school has a tie-up with Delhi-based Sanskriti School and Bluebells School International. "They have recognised us as their sister school and we are hopeful that next year, Doon School, Dehradun, will also have a tie-up with us," said Thuksey Rinpoche.

He said, in 2009, film directors asked for permission to shoot in the school and the charges. "We told them we had never charged anyone before. After the shoot, they donated Rs 7 lakh to the school."

The film released in 2009 and six years later, "Rancho's School" is still a huge attraction. "We have a visitor's centre on the school premises from the school premises where tourists can buy handicraft made by our students. In the tourist season, we still get 250-300 tourists daily," Thuksey Rinpoche said.