International Influence and Support for Educational Development in Bhutan
In 1913, the first ‘Western model’ school was established in the Haa District of Western Bhutan and a mobile school in Bumthang two years later. By 1959, the Royal Government planned to make school education available to the general population. However, t
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Abstract In 1913, the first ‘Western model’ school was established in the Haa District of Western Bhutan and a mobile school in Bumthang two years later. By 1959, the Royal Government planned to make school education available to the general population. However, the general population had reservations about the ‘Western model’ of education. The main goal of education was to improve the wellbeing of the people and to meet the need for a trained workforce for the new ‘modernized’ economic development programmes. The Royal Government was faced with the problem of unavailable consumables for schools, a shortage of teachers, and a lack of funds to build schools and to pay the teachers. As these challenges were being addressed with the goodwill, support, and cooperation of the United Nations, national governments, non-government organisations, and individuals, there arose more problems endemic to a growing system. With the help of a number of supporters, Bhutan has been able to make remarkable progress in education, as well as in other sectors. The last four decades of the twentieth century have been a stage of hardships and progress for the people of Bhutan, but under the astute leadership of the Kings, Bhutan is now almost self-sufficient in human resource needs. This chapter will explain how the Bhutanese education system developed through the assistance of the international community.
Introduction The knowledge that reading and writing for general people outside the monastic system was important to bring improvement in the economy and welfare of the people of Bhutan was clearly foreseen by Gongsa Ugyen Wangchuck, the First Druk Gyalpo [Dragon King of Bhutan]. The first school at Haa in 1913 sowed the initial seed for the growth of secular education on a contemporary ‘Western’ model (Powdyel 2008).
Jagar Dorji (*) National Council of Bhutan (Retired), Thimphu, Bhutan e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 M.J. Schuelka, T.W. Maxwell (eds.), Education in Bhutan, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 36, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-1649-3_7
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The First and Second Druk Gyalpo established several schools, including the mobile court school in Lamey Gonpa, Bumthang. Besides Dzongkha, the students were taught Hindi and English, preparing them to be able to communicate and administer the affairs of the country as poenkhags [government officials] (Mackey 2002). Bhutan began the process of Five-Year Plans (FYP) for economic development in 1961. The emphasis of the 1st FYP (1961–1966) was “Education, Health and Infrastructure” (Nado Rinchen 2012, p. 10). School education, thus, became a nationwide programme as it was expected to train enough “manpower required” for the overall development of the country (ED 1976, p. 1). Having started an education system on a Western secular model, the obvious need was enough cash to pay the teachers, buy the stationary, science apparatus, and textbooks. Proper school buildings had to be built. The textbooks fo
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