Education in Bhutan: Looking Back and Looking Forward

What features is a brief overview of education in Bhutan. First there is a brief glance at the very beginning of formal schooling in Bhutan. Here we were heavily indebted to the teaching expertise of educators from other countries and tried to aspire to standards set outside our country. Secondly, there is a critical analysis of where Bhutanese education finds itself today, in a time when we envision free universal education and nationwide literacy. In the movement from education for a few to education for all, certain problems arise. Some of these problems will be explored, such as maintaining educational standards, deploying teaching personnel, training and upgrading Bhutanese teachers, Qualification requirements for entering teaching cadre and so on. The purpose of this paper is to engage a discussion on how we can best move forward to achieve our national goals despite the obstacles that we find along the path.

A. Historical background

Bhutan opened its doors to modern education in the late 1950's under the dynamic leadership of late Majesty Jigme Dorji Wangchuk. He is rightly called the "father of modern Bhutan" because of the contribution he made to his subjects, especially adapting the modern education system, and the opening of the first schools, discarding the age old policy of isolation, and making Bhutan a member of various international organizations such as the Colombo Plan, United Nations Organizations.

Before 1960’s most children received traditional education from parents and other family members at home while few were sent to monastic schools for religious education. Most boys were taught by fathers, uncles, grandfathers how to do subsistence farming, how to handle and care for animals, build shelters, weave mats, repair roof of the houses, and the like. Most girls were taught by older women, mothers and sisters, among other, how to manage household needs of growing and preparing food, fetch water, caring for the younger children, spin and weave cloth, collect firewood, sow seeds. Children looked after animals by the age of five or six. Only a few got opportunity to receive formal education. They were usually sons and daughters of wealthier families or noble families who were usually sent to schools in India.

Within a time span of about five decades, Bhutan has seen tremendous progress, especially in educating its population in formal schools. We have already achieved a literacy rate of 62% (Central Statistical Office, Planning Commission, 2002) and is expected to raise to 100% in next few years. Our country has already set a national goal of "Education for All" by the year 2006. Starting just a decade ago all the students in the schools were provided with not only free hostel,  schools and teachers, but also all the necessities like school dress, shoes, sports attire, toiletries, blankets, mattress, etc. It is hard to believe that any other nation except Bhutan does all this, to educate its population. Bhutan is not a rich country to provide all these facilities; it is one of the least developed countries in the world. However the commitment of the far-sighted King has shown his love for his subjects and provides education that the people have to have to make them fit in the modern society.

At the beginning we did not have teachers of our own; all the teachers in Bhutan were expatriates. Their commitment should not be forgotten for they worked hard for our people. They adapted themselves to Bhutan and provided education and fulfilled the responsibilities they were entrusted with. We have not forgotten them. A few names in particular remain close to our heart, because they dedicated their lives to uplift the youth of Bhutan. Two names that come to mind are late Father Makei from Canada and Father Lacklier, who were the principals of some of the first secondary schools. There were many others, some who even dedicated their entire lives to teaching in Bhutan. Some came as young men and returned to their homeland as old grandfather after serving for 30 to 40 years; some are still working. They have been in Bhutan for last 30 to 35 years. Thanks to their commitment and dedicated service. Even today, some 30% of the teachers in Bhutan are expatriates and we appreciate their ongoing commitment.

Understandably, the heads and teachers serving in the formal education system made a great difference. The heads were experienced to manage the schools well. The teachers recruited at that time served well. It did not matter which class they taught, but during recruitment preference was given for higher qualifications. In every school that somebody visited, a gentle looking middle-aged man or woman occupied the head teacher’s office. They were well experienced and had been in the field for many years as teachers and then as heads. They earned respect by their age and by the number of years in service. Their words were well considered because they were senior members in the organization. The system ran well because the persons on the top deserved the respect from everybody and was respected.  The directives they gave were almost like law and knew what he/she would pass because he was experienced and knew well.

I feel this establishment in the system has made the organization; schools strong and academic achievement was noticeable at that time. Beside, the teacher-student ratio was small as there were only few schools. The head teacher and the officials effectively monitored all aspects of educational programmes.  Most importantly, the teachers were allotted the classes as per their subject background and thus, were competent to teach the subject.

Education today

Today our leaders, the top officials, diplomats, important responsibility holders who are working in shaping Bhutan to adapt to changing times, are the products of these committed teachers. The standard of education provided in the early schools was commendable. These were the times when classes III and IV could read and write letters and applications. Many of the top officials today may not be highly qualified with academic degrees but they are occupying important government posts and serving well, as their experience, their understanding, and other job related skills are commendable. They are not only managing their offices and departments well, but also are representing our country in important international forums and seminars. These officials have been able to convince the international community of Bhutan's achievements and progress. Because of them world has begun to look upon Bhutan as a model for sustainable development. Bhutan has not compromised its unique culture for the sake of development alone; the two moves forward simultaneously. We have been able to do this because of the farsighted vision of the king and the officials.

Although we adopted modern system of education late in comparison to many other countries, our literacy rate is much higher now than that of other developing countries. Owing to the small demand for an educated labour force in the job market, many of our students did not pursue higher studies; rather they took up jobs which were readily available. If someone had completed primary education, jobs were not a problem since 85% of Bhutan’s population work in subsistence farming. For those who completed secondary education, the jobs were a matter of choice some 10 to 15 years ago. Now the scenario is changing. The government is becoming more concerned about the qualifications required for entering into the job market. This compels more students to  pursue higher studies. It is not surprising to see at present that subordinates comparing his/her formal academic qualifications with those of his/her bosses, who may have only minimal formal education qualification from earlier decade. This does not matter as somebody who is in the job, is doing well and has fulfilled the needs of the time though that particular job today may be demanding higher qualifications for entry. This situation may not last long as more and more highly educated and specialized personal are coming into the job markets.

The growing consciousness among parents to educate their children is pressurizing government to open more schools around the country. As of 2004 there are 408 schools and institutions spread across the country (Ref). To ease the pressure of enrolment and to provide facilities in the needy areas, establishment of community schools is being decentralized to Dzongkhag. Establishment of private schools is also encouraged and as of 2004 we have close to 10 private schools with levels from nursery to higher secondary; and the trend seems to be growing fast. 

Opening of these schools have not eased the pressure at higher secondary level. Only around 50% of students who pass class X have the chance to pursue for higher studies. The rest are left with no option but to take up whatever jobs may come their way.

As mentioned elsewhere, Bhutan is making progress in education. Many community schools are opened; many primary schools are upgraded to lower secondary and middle secondary and to junior colleges. We have as many as 16 junior colleges now, apart from private ones. These measures have helped to provide primary education to many more remote areas. But are we providing the expected quality education? Has this not resulted into a compromise for quality for the sake quantity? While upgrading the number of schools have we provided adequate facilities that are needed? Is the manpower deployed strategically? Those in education ministry should consider analyzing this question. People from some pockets appear to express their skepticism whether or not the system is heading towards a right direction.    

Some people say that the quality of education has gone down drastically in the past few years. Is this true? If yes, what have we done to overcome this criticism and maintain high standard that was once admired and was respected by all? Where are we going wrong? If the criticism is unfounded, are we up to the standard? Then why do some people feel that standards have fallen?  Some people feel that there is enough educated manpower loitering in the market but not actively engaged in the job market. We need to answer all these elements if we are to move forward in maintaining the standard of the education for the entire population.

The government has been spending huge amount of money in meeting the standards of education as per the requirements of the time. The budget outlay for education sector is the highest in the 9th five-year plan. The curriculum that was followed a decade ago has completely been replaced by a new curriculum that is designed to meet the needs of modern Bhutan. New textbooks have been written by Curriculum Officers in CAPSD. Up to class VIII, the whole set of old textbooks has been changed in line with the Bhutanese curriculum.

The very system of learning has changed from traditional learning to that of a new one. For example New Approach to Primary Education (NAPE) has been in place since the 1980s. The same has been made possible with assistance from various universities in Australia and England. Many teachers have been trained in Australia and England for teaching in NAPE ways and in management courses. In turn these teachers have been conducting workshops nationwide as part of in-service programs to other teachers. In general, all the primary school teachers in the field are oriented to new system of education that is being implemented. Even the training centers are accordingly designed. We can see the tables, chairs, desks, and other teaching resources are made suitable to the age and physique of the children. In other words, the atmosphere in terms of physical facilities is made conducive to learning. In addition, the two NIEs in their pre service teacher training also offers courses in the ways that caters to the needs of young children. Huge amount of resources has been spent in buying various types of teaching aids and in supplying to schools. No schools were left out with limited resources. Several surveys have been done and the impact on the new system was studied. The officials involved in the survey report that the system is working and is consistent with the needs of the time.

But I am afraid whether we will be able to justify the inputs the government has made considering the questions parents and observers have in their mind on "education standard is going down". I personally feel that there is no way the standard should go down with such a heavy input in the human resource and the material resource government has put in. If the standard has really gone down, it is rather tempting to ask these questions: Did the manpower trained for NAPE not receive adequate skills to maintain standard?   Was it too early to change the system? Do we have balance of resources in urban and rural schools to ensure uniform performances? With so much input in the human resources as well as material resources the expectations today is of the better standards in comparison with the earlier times. We are better equipped now in terms of facilities. The road networks, telecommunication facilities, better postal services, improved working environment, readily available resources in the markets, there should not be a compromise in the quality.   

Those of us who are in education give some reasons to accept that the standard of education is indeed deteriorating. The reports of the survey carried out by CERD on the standard of English justify that point. The standards in English is not up to the expectation for which education department has already done the survey and this has been clearly mentioned in the guidelines to the teacher in "The Silken Knot" published by the research division of Education department. If this is the case one has to agree that if English has gone down, and for that matter all subjects that use English as the medium, would have gone down. The problem solving abilities of the students' especially in mathematics and science is becoming poor as it involves English translation into equations. If asked why, the immediate response of people involved in the field would be like this: large numbers of students in the classes, lack of teaching aids, teacher shortages, not the right combination of teaching subjects and so on. If these are genuine reasons, is it not high time that we work together and put things in the right directions before it is too late? Alternately, one must find a middle path in that both the reasons cited by teachers should be taken into account while at the same time implement the guidelines given in the Silken Knot.

It is true that at present there are large numbers of students, but accordingly number of teachers has been increased. The teacher-student ratio remains almost unchanged from the inception of the formal education system. Therefore this should not be the excuse for low standards in the schools. Then where might we be going wrong? We will have to find out whether the placements of teacher are rightly done as per the requirements of the schools. If we compare the urban schools with the rural schools we find the differences. There are hardly any schools in urban areas where we have teacher shortages; rather we might find some teachers taking fewer periods when they are supposed to take, which are compensated for the rural schools and the ratio looks fine but in reality there is a difference. There are schools in the far-flung communities with a single teacher with seventy to eighty students with several sections starting with pre-primary to classes III to IV and a single teacher alone managing them all.   In some cases these school are three to four days walk from the Dzongkhag headquarters.  The teacher has to go to the Dzongkhag every month to collect salary and to do other official works. The to and fro journey takes 7 to 8 days. He is officially on duty and the school is closed down. If he is away from the school for 7 to 8 days in a month, what do we expect him to teach in the school and for how many days in a month? What quality students are we producing when the teacher misses so many days? If this is the case then is opening of community school a solution? Or are we eye washing ourselves to meet the 'education for all' policy? Serious thoughts and actions are required to address these problems.

Some proposed solutions

If this is the situation we can consider merging two to three community schools and provide enough teachers so that the problem cited above could be addressed. Like in the past we can think of opening of hostels for the school, which are merged together. The parents may be encouraged to visit school every weekend and do the necessary washing required for their children. This is still a practice in some primary schools and seems o work well.  In doing this we will have enough teachers for a particular school. If we have enough teachers each teacher may be encouraged to teach particular subject, whereby it becomes the responsibility of the teacher to produce best results in his/her subjects. Thus there is an indirect competition among teachers to excel in their subjects.

Subject teacher system could be another solution. It is observed that in most schools the class teacher system is being followed. A particular teacher goes to the class and spend whole day in the same class changing the subject after every period. Is it not monotonous for the students to see the same teacher throughout the day in the same class? Do the students consider that other teachers in the school as their teachers? In this practice most teachers of the school do not get to see the students of some other classes for the whole year, as they do not have to teach. Different people have different abilities in different fields. One may be good in English but poor in mathematics and likewise for all the subjects. Are we not trying to become Jack of all trades and master of none? We will have to weigh the options as the same resources deployed in different ways might make a difference in improving the standards of education in our schools.

To meet the demands of the community schools as discussed earlier, government has spent huge amount of resources in training the Bhutanese teachers for multi-grade teaching. Many of these teachers were trained in Australia and England. They should have the capabilities to do the job they are trained for. But do we have the mechanism to trace these trained teachers whether they are working in the schools with Multigrade situations. It seems that many of these teachers have been immediately posted elsewhere, some as heads and others as officers, where their specific teaching skills are not directly applied. The schools, which need teachers with these skills, are not deployed accordingly. Instead, new recruits (fresh pass outs) from training institutions are being posted.  The beginning teachers seem to find difficulty in managing multigrade teaching, as they do not have methodological orientation to it. I feel that all the teachers trained for should be deployed where there is a genuine need. There should not be any compromise, as the resources spent on them have to be reciprocated by working in the required situations. 

Government is already aware of the fact that up-gradation of teacher's qualification is a must if we are to move with the time and to maintain the high standards of education in the schools. The entry qualification to become a teacher has been raised from class X to XII even for primary level. Thus, there will come a time when we will have teachers in all the school with minimum qualifications of Bachelor's degree. At the same time other teachers who are less qualified are given opportunities to raise their qualifications either through distance education courses or by appearing (Class 10 & 12) board examination as teacher candidates. The government is providing all the financial support in this programme. When government has put in so much of its resources and has given opportunities to move with the time, it is the responsibility of the teachers to reciprocate in the same way. This already is a step ahead; education ministry has taken numerous measures to uplift the standard of teaching learning in the schools. There should then be a strong mechanism established to monitor the seriousness and commitment of those candidates availing this opportunity. Conversely, if the teachers are not able to teach the levels they are expected to teach after the course it becomes a total wastage of the resources. 

To meet the demands of the increasing number of students in the lower, middle and higher secondary levels, government has been upgrading many schools. With this initiative government has taken, we have been able to provide education to the students who otherwise would not have the chance for further education. But many of the schools, which are recently upgraded, do not have adequate facilities. It seems many of the schools have been upgraded in haste without proper planning and projection. Schools are having difficult times in adjusting with the limited facilities. In some cases, even the whole faculty has remained the same without any additional manpower or resources.  It is very important at the initial phases of establishment to impart quality education, as the faculty themselves are not confident of their works at the higher level.  In some case not even a single lower secondary level trained teacher has been posted and all teachers are trained for teaching primary levels. It is happening not because we have the limited resources at our disposal but because we have not properly planned for proper utilization of our resources. When a school is upgraded if some of the teachers from a well-established school are transferred, since they already have some experiences in managing the classes and resources will be in a better position to make a good beginning. Many of the parents are very skeptical about these problems prevailing in the recently upgraded schools and would like their children to be admitted in well-established schools.  Because of this we have numerous problems during the admission.

Government is trying hard to balance the resources among schools in every part of the country. We have now the policy of education in the own Dzongkhag, no dependents allowed, the child has to be with his/her parent. To make the policy work properly there should be a balance distribution of resources in the all Dzongkhags. This can only be done if we do mass transfers of the experienced teachers who have been in a school for many years. Well-maintained records and the designated people in Dzongkhag need to work closely with the education headquarters and share information as per the needs of the schools.   

The Education Ministry is working hard and striving towards achieving the national goal "Education for All". This can only be achieved if and only if every concerned official in the Education Ministry realizes the importance the government has been attaching for the education of the children of this country. One can hope that able these problems may be overcome within a foreseeable time frame if right people are placed in right places. It is also hopeful that the newly established Royal University of Bhutan will play a vital role in further improving the quality of education. 

 (An Article published in the CERD, Education Journal, Volume X, Spring 2007)