The education ministry is reportedly considering doing away with written examinations for students of PP to Class III.
Please take the poll asking if phasing out exams for PP to Class III is a good idea. And please share your thoughts on this important issue.
Lopen Tshewang Tenzin, a lharip instructor at the National Institute for Zorig Chusum in Thimphu, tells the story behind the Thuenpa Puenshi:
A golden era it was for the kingdom of Varanasi. The king, his prime minister and the people all claimed the credit. In the end, they sought the wisdom of the reclusive hermit.
“The golden era has been brought about by the four friends in the forest,” said the hermit. The bird, the rabbit, the monkey and the elephant had devoted their lives to propagating good deeds.
The king and his entourage went into the forest to see the four friends. They sat atop each other beside a large fruit tree. The bird was on top because it had sown the seed. The rabbit was next as it had forsaken the sapling as food and protected it. Under it, the monkey had seen the sapling grow limb and leaves. At the bottom was the elephant who first saw the tree at about the same height as itself.
Their merit translated into Varanasi’s good fortune.
The image of the Thuenpa Punshi is ubiquitous in Bhutanese houses. It is believed that the goodwill emanating from the image in a house will benefit the village. Likewise, images in a village will benefit the kingdom and the world at large.
Lopen Tshewang Tenzin has composed a thangka to illustrate the story of the Thuenpa Puenshi. He has allowed me to use it to wish you a happy and prosperous Iron Female Rabbit Year.
Lopen Tshewang can be reached at +975-1768-3152.
Almost 200 of you took part in the poll to decide who would be our sportsperson of the year. Thank you for voting. And thank you for your many comments. I closed the poll at midnight on the last day of January.
The race was close. Ugyen Yoeser (cycling) and Devika Darjee (cricket) ran neck and neck in our informal competition. Eventually Devika won, but by barely a whisker – she secured 55 votes against Ugyen’s 53.
Devika Darjee was the only lady among my nominees for the sportsperson of 2010. She beat nine men to the top spot. Congratulations.
Devika wins Nu 25,000. She should contact me by email to claim her prize.
The prize money comes from the Nu 200,000 I collected for completing the Tour of the Dragon, a bicycle race from Bumthang to Thimphu. All of it is being spent on social work, especially to promote sports.
Photo credit: Kuensel
“Bhutan by Bhutanese” a photo-exhibition by students of the Bhutan Institute of Media is being hosted by the city of Baar in Switzerland. The exhibition, which will continue for the next three weeks, was innaugurated on the 29th of January.
The banner features a photograph by Dorji Yuden, a student at BIM. I’ve uploaded a few more photos in the Gallery.
Excerpts of my speech during the innauguration follow:
We are gathered together as friends – friends of Bhutan. Some of you have visited my country. Some of you have worked there.
But all of you – whether you’ve been to Bhutan or not – all of you would have some impressions about Bhutan.
Think about those impressions. What images come to your mind? What is the story of Bhutan?
This story of Bhutan – medieval, magical, romantic – is a story about a Shangrila. And this story has been told and retold, hundreds of times, in postcards, magazines and coffee-table books.
Is this story of Bhutan correct? Is it accurate? I think so. I hope so.
But no matter, it is not complete story. It is not complete as this story – picture-perfect as it is – has been painted almost exclusively by foreigners. They are people who visited Bhutan, fell in love with our country and our people, and, as friends of Bhutan, decided to share their story with the rest of the world.
The story of Bhutan will be more complete – more accurate and more real – only when we, Bhutanese, express how we see our own country. When we, Bhutanese, tell our own story. But what is that story that we, Bhutanese, see in our own country?
Unfortunately we don’t know. Actually, that’s not correct – we do know! Obviously we know how we perceive our own country. It’s just that we haven’t yet begun to tell that story as we see it, through our eyes, and using the camera to transform what we see and feel into pictures.
But this is changing. Changing slowly but surely as demonstrated by today’s exhibition, “Bhutan by Bhutanese”.
“Bhutan by Bhutanese” showcases Bhutan as we, Bhutanese, see our own country. It is the story of Bhutan – our past, our present and our future – as seen by our own people. It is a story of Bhutan, as seen by the Bhutanese, and narrated by the Bhutanese.
But that’s not all – Bhutan by Bhutanese is the story of Bhutan as seen by the youth of Bhutan. They are the ones who are born and bred in Bhutan, who feel and breathe Bhutan, and who are confronted with the many changes taking place in our country.
Their stories also celebrate the wonders of Bhutan – our mountains and rivers, monasteries and monks, culture and people. But, as Bhutanese, they are able to view our country from the “inside” as it were, and so they bring an additional perspective.
“Bhutan by Bhutanese” is about that perspective. No doubt it is about the grandeur, the pomp, and the colors of Bhutan. But it also provides an insight into the real people and the real lives that thrive beneath the powerful veneer of pomp and colorful ceremony.
So “Bhutan by Bhutanese” is a story about Bhutan as our youth see it. It is a story about the hopes and joys, the fears and anxieties, the dreams and ambitions of our young people.
I’ve met some of these young people. Barely one year ago, none of them knew how to even hold a camera. And already, their photographs tell a compelling story about Bhutan. I hope you’ll enjoy their story.
Many photographers still depict Bhutan as a Shangrila. There’s nothing wrong with that. But Bhutan is changing. And changing fast. It’s important to recognize these changes. And to record them … preferably by our own people. Bhutan by Bhutanese.
In this regard, I’m happy that, because of BIM, Bhutan by Bhutanese is now possible. In fact it is already a reality.
Congratulations to the newly elected thrompons of Gelephu, Phuentsholing, Samdrupjongkhar and Thimphu thromdes. Congratulations also to the elected tshogpas of the four thromdes.
The elections of the four thromde tshogdes (city councils) represent the first local government elections held under the auspices of the Constitution. So, the elections also underscore Bhutan’s determined journey to a democracy.
Congratulations are also in order to the Chief Election Commissioner and his staff. The ECB team conducted another round of efficient elections – methodically and meticulously – notwithstanding the protest on their decision to waive off the rule requiring candidates to be registered in their constituency for a minimum of one year.
Here’s a summary of the votes cast – drawn from ECB’s announcements – in the elections for the four thrompons:
And here are three things I’ve picked up from the voting patterns:
One, hardly 50% of the registered voters actually voted. That’s not bad by international standards. But it’s a far cry from the almost 80% voter turnout that the first general elections enjoyed. And, local government elections, in which residents vote for candidates to address their immediate concerns, not vague national issues, should actually generate a bigger turnout.
This does not bode well for our democratic culture. A strong democracy begins with a healthy voter turnout. And declining numbers at the polling station may indicate that we don’t understand democracy; or that we are unwilling to participate in the democratic process; or that we don’t have faith in the system; or that we are simply not interested.
Any of these reasons is dangerous. So we must be careful. We must become more aware of the principles of our democracy. We must stand ready to safeguard the ideals of our democracy. And we must be willing to participate in the democratic process. Otherwise, rest assured, democracy will fail us. And we will have only ourselves to blame.
Two, the elections saw only 26 postal ballots – 24 in Thimphu, 2 in Gelephu and none in Phuentsholing and Samdrupjongkhar. This means that public servants from these constituencies work in their own constituencies; or that public servants from these constituencies went home to vote; or that these constituencies have very few public servants; or, and most likely, that most of the public servants did not vote.
And three, a disproportionately low number of residents of the thromdes were eligible to vote. In 2005, Thimphu had a population of almost 80,000 people. Since then, Thimphu’s boundaries have expanded and its population has increased to 108,000. But it had only 6,300 registered voters for the thromde elections. That means less than 6% of the population were eligible to chose their local government. Of them, only half voted. The three other thromdes also tell similar stories.
This is obviously because the Constitution and electoral laws permit only those whose census is registered in a constituency to vote in that constituency. But since voting is the most powerful way of holding elected leaders to account, the inability of most residents to take part in an election does not augur well for democracy. So we need to reconsider our laws. Or better still, we need to reconsider where we register our censuses, in order to make better use of our franchise.
The banner showcases our new thrompons. I wish them, and the winning tshogpas, a successful tenure.
Tomorrow, registered voters in Thimphu, Gelephu, Samdrupjongkhar and Phuentsholing will elect their respective thromde tshogdes or city councils.
As we discussed in my last post, the Thimphu city council – the new mayor in particular – will have to sort out the capital city’s water problems.
But the mayor and his council will also have to attend to many other competing priorities. Sewerage, solid waste, public transport, roads, traffic, housing, schools, fire, parks and income generation are some of the issues that should demand the city council’s immediate attention.
The thrompons of Gelephu, Samdrupjongkhar and Phuentsholing will find that they too will have to address more or less the same issues.
But the biggest and most important responsibility of all four city councils will be to consolidate the powers and authority granted to them by the Constitution. Without these powers, the city councils will not be able to fulfill their Constitutional duties and obligations. And stand little chance of improving our cities.
The banner features the Thimphu City Corporation building, which will house the offices of its new mayor.
Pipes for peace
Thank you for taking part in “Big picture – 10”.
Your responses were varied, and many of them were deliberately funny. Answers ranged from electrical, telephone and TV cables; to branches, roots and stems; to serpents, TMT bars and organizational charts!
But most of you knew the answer – yes, the picture showed water pipes, and yes such pipes, carrying water to individual houses, can be seen all over Thimphu.
“namgay”, “Tshewang” and “dodo” guessed that the picture of the water pipes was taken in Hejo, Langjuphakha and Taba respectively. The picture was actually taken above the “RICB Colony”.
The pipes – I counted about 150 of them – are installed and maintained privately, and carry water from a small stream to the houses below. I was told that some of them deliver water houses in distant Changzmatog!
The pipes are there because Thimphu City Corporation’s water supply is woefully inadequate and unreliable.
Thimphu has sufficient water. The Wangchhu and its many streams provide more than enough water for the entire valley. But that water must be tapped and distributed efficiently. And that is something we have not been able to do.
So Thimphu’s new mayor – whoever should win the elections tomorrow – has his work cut out for him. The mayor will be expected to improve and expand the capital’s water supply system: to ensure that inhabitants get more than a few hours of running water each day; to remove the need for the water tanks that sit on top of every building; and to make the ubiquitous private pipes redundant.
By the way, the winner of “Big picture – 10” is “namgay” who answered: “Thats a Bundle of Polythene pipes la…conveying water i guess.. common see in places like hejo…”
The picture wasn’t taken in Hejo, but like “namgay” says, the pipes are a common sight in Thimphu.
“namgay”: please contact me by email to claim your prize.
More pipes
We talked about pensions two years ago.
First, we voiced concern that the NPPF pension scheme was sustainable for only 30 years.
Then, we discussed the merits of a defined-contribution plan over the existing defined-benefit plan.
And then, we expressed alarm that the government was interfering in how our pension scheme was being run.
Let’s keep talking about pensions. There’s good news. And there’s bad news.
The good news is that, despite increased competition in the financial sector, NPPF seems to be performing well. In the last year, the membership base has increased by 5.4%, from 40,222 to 42,393 members. Revenue generated increased by 14.57%. And the total fund grew by 18.6% to Nu 8.97 billion.
The good news is also that NPPF’s pension scheme could soon become available for workers in the orgranized private sector.
The bad news is that our pension scheme is become even more defined by benefits. Retirement pension benefits have now been increased to 40% of final salaries. This is bound to make our pension scheme unsustainable, especially after returns on NPPF’s investments start to inevitably drop due to the growing competition in the financial sector.
The bad news is also that some six serving ministers are already drawing pension benefits.
Our ministers collect pensions because they have retired from the civil service. And because they’ve reached the retirement age. They’re entitled to draw pensions. But, as serving ministers, they still have regular incomes. So the very purpose of pensions – i.e., to provide predictable income when income from formal employment is not longer available – seems to be lost.
In a defined-benefit plan, pension rates are based on the salary of a member with little regard to how much that member has contributed. Such a scheme naturally encourages members to collect their pensions as soon as they reach retirement age, even if they are still formally employed. That’s why our ministers collect their pensions although they have regular salaries. The system encourages them to do so.
In a defined-contribution plan, pension rates are based on the contributions of individual members. So the more a member contributes, the more that member will collect during retirement. Such a scheme would encourage members to make contributions as long as they have regular jobs, so that they enjoy bigger benefits when they no longer have regular jobs.
NPPF knows that defined-benefit plans are not sustainable. The experience of many countries has already demonstrated that.
So NPPF should migrate to a defined-contribution plan. The transition will be difficult. And it will be painful, especially for members who will retire in the next few years. But it is possible, now. Our pension scheme is still young; contributing members outnumber pensioners by a huge margin; and returns on the pension investments have been good. Plus, our government may be willing to chip in to defray some of the immediate costs associated with migrating to the more sustainable defined-contribution plan.
We haven’t done this for a while. The first person to get the big picture wins a copy of “Treasures of the Thunder Dragon: A Portrait of Bhutan”.
Safe, sound and dry
I just got off the phone with Colin McCowan, popularly known as “Mister Col” by Bhutanese studying in Brisbane, Australia.
Col says that he’s in touch with all 25 Bhutanese students in the Brisbane area. And that all of them and their families are safe.
The floods have wrecked unimaginable damage in Queensland. So I’m grateful that our students and their families – all 60 of them – are safe and sound.
Mister Col: thank you for taking care of our students.
Tshering Tobgay is a Member of Parliament representing Sombaykha Constitutency in Haa. He is the Leader of the Opposition Party in the National Assembly of Bhutan.
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