Teaching history

December 19, 2008Posted inEducation
My son, Gyamtsho Tshering, 17 years, Class XI, is home for his winter vacations. My wife and I are delighted to have our family together, and have often worried that our son has had to be away from home for most parts of the year.Gyamtsho studies in St Joseph’s School, also known as “North Point”, in Darjeeling, India.Why is he in North Point? Because while he was at Lungtenzampa MSS, the government decided to teach Bhutan history in Dzongkha. His mother had been seriously concerned. “Even as a subject, most students find Dzongkha difficult” she had grumbled, “so how…

Good heads make good schools

December 14, 2008Posted inEducation
More than 150 educationists attended a three-day seminar this week to examine our education system. Participants agreed on a range of problems frustrating education in our country ranging from inadequate infrastructure to ineffective teaching methodologies.The seminar was an excellent idea. And recommendations were good. But nothing is new. Education workshops and seminars have time and again identified the same problems and agreed on similar strategies to improve education. Why? Because no matter how many times we met, we hardly ever followed through on the important decisions. So the quality of education, let’s face it, remains poor.It wasn’t always so.…

The end of school

November 28, 2008Posted inEducation
Galek, my daughter, age 9, class 4, finished her final exams yesterday.Today, her last day at school, is significant. It’s significant for me because she’s completed yet another year at school – a reminder that she’s growing up; that time flies.It’s significant for Galek too – today marks the completion of her first academic year since the introduction of democracy in Bhutan; the completion of one of the five academic years that we’ve given the DPT government to improve our education system.So I’ve been thinking: what has the DPT government done so far to improve the quality of education?…