Education in Bhutan

Western-style education was introduced to Bhutan during the reign of Ugyen Wangchuck (1907–26). Until the 1950s, the only formal education available to Bhutanese students, except for private schools in Ha and Bumthang, was through Buddhist monasteries. In the 1950s, several private secular schools were established without government support, and several others were established in major district towns with government backing. By the late 1950s, there were twenty-nine government and thirty private primary schools, but only about 2,500 children were enrolled. Secondary education was available only in India. Eventually, the private schools were taken under government supervision to raise the quality of education provided. Although some primary schools in remote areas had to be closed because of low attendance, the most significant modern developments in education came during the period of the First Development Plan (1961–66), when some 108 schools were operating and 15,000 students were enrolled.

Monastic tradition of education

As one of the traditionally four Buddhist states of the Himalayas, Bhutan has a long tradition of Buddhist life. Padma Sambhava is said to have taught students from Bhutan in the 8th century. According to legend, his student, the translator Denma Tsemang, designed the national script of Bhutan around 750. At least since this time emanating from Tibet monk isolated schools are detectable, where knowledge was passed down from teacher to student. This resulted in a multitude of competing Buddhist sects, which were native to the individual monasteries. Only the monk Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, who was considered the founder of modern Bhutan, was able to compete among his schoolsEnsure priority for Drugpa-Kagyü school. With his founding of the Chari monastery in Thimphu, he ensured the continuity of monastic education since then.

In addition to ritual and tantric studies, the 15 Shedras Bhutans offer philosophical studies. These are divided into three levels and correspond to the level after university entrance, the Bachelor and finally the Master. The Sang Chokhor Buddhist College is also state accredited. His rector is on the board of the Royal University of Bhutan.

Modern educational opportunities

As a complement to the monastic tradition of education, Bhutan has steadily expanded a three-level education system based on the Western model since the education reform. The free ten-year school begins at the age of six and is divided into a six-year elementary school with an upstream preschool and a secondary school based on it. Following this primary education, there is a choice between an apprenticeship and a two-year secondary education that entitles to study. The study as a tertiary education area is offered by the Royal University of Bhutan.

The country's first secondary school in 1968 was the Jesuit- run Sherubtse high school, which later became Sherubtse College. The first higher state educational institution in Bhutan was the Teacher Training Institute, also founded in 1968, for the training of teachers for their own national needs, today's Samtse College of Education. This was founded around a comprehensive literacy of the so far feudalto promote the embossed country. This goal has not yet been achieved. In 2005, only 81 percent of school-age children attended school. The reason is the still inadequate infrastructure. Some students have a three-hour walk to school.

Universities

Since the educational reform, several hundred schools have emerged, as well as nine university institutes, which were combined in 2003 in the decentralized Royal University of Bhutan. These are u. a.

Samtse College of Education, the oldest teacher training center in the country in the westernmost dzongkhag Samtse, which awards the Bachelor of Education

Paro College of Education, the second teacher training center in the country, also in the west in dzongkhag Paro, which awards the Bachelor of Education

Sherubtse College, the only internationally recognized university in Bhutan from 1983, was able to award university degrees in cooperation with Delhi University until 2003.

In 2012, the government decided to found another university with the University of Medical Sciences Act of Bhutan (UMSB), which should specifically address the urgently needed training of medical professionals, such as nurses and doctors. In 2013 Thimphu College of Medicine, founded in 2015 was in honor of the ruling Druk Gyalpo in Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences renamed (KGUMSB). However, the program has difficulties starting up. For example, due to a lack of personnel (as of November 2019), the originally intended degree of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery cannot be awarded. Instead, the focus of the training within the Faculty of Health Sciences is on nursing staff. There is also a faculty for traditional medicine and a post-graduate school that awards the MD after four years.

Secondary education

Western-type education was introduced by the First King of Bhutan, Ugyen Wangchuk (1907-1926). Until 1950, there were only two secular schools in Haa and Bumtang, with Buddhist monasteries mainly in charge of education. After 1950, secular schools began to appear both privately and publicly sponsored. At the end of the fifties, there were 29 elementary public schools and thirty private schools in which 2500 children studied. Secondary education could only be obtained in India.

First Five-Year Plans

The First Five-Year Plan provided for a central education authority—in the form of a director of education appointed in 1961—and an organized, modern school system with free and universal primary education. Since that time, following one year of preschool begun at age four, children attended school in the primary grades—one through five. Education continued with the equivalent of grades six through eight at the junior high level and grades nine through eleven at the high school level. The Department of Education administered the All-Bhutan Examinations nationwide to determine promotion from one level of schooling to the next. Examinations at the tenth-grade level were conducted by the Indian School Certificate Council.

The Department of Education also was responsible for producing textbooks; preparing course syllabi and in-service training for teachers; arranging training and study abroad; organizing interschool tournaments; procuring foreign assistance for education programs; and recruiting, testing, and promoting teachers, among other duties.

The core curriculum set by the National Board of Secondary Education included English, mathematics, and Dzongkha. Although English was used as the language of instruction throughout the junior high and high school system, Dzongkha, and, in southern Bhutan until 1989, Nepali, were compulsory subjects. Students also studied English literature, social studies, history, geography, general science, biology, chemistry, physics, and religion. Curriculum development often has come from external forces, as was the case with historical studies. Most Bhutanese history is based on oral traditions rather than on written histories or administrative records. A project sponsored by UNESCO and the University of London developed a ten-module curriculum, which included four courses on Bhutanese history and culture and six courses on Indian and world history and political ideas. Subjects with an immediate practical application, such as elementary agriculture, animal husbandry, and forestry, also were taught.

Bhutan's coeducational school system in 1988 encompassed a reported 42,446 students and 1,513 teachers in 150 primary schools, 11,835 students and 447 teachers in 21 junior high schools, and 4,515 students and 248 teachers in 9 high schools. Males accounted for 63 percent of all primary and secondary students. Most teachers at these levels—70 percent—also were males. There also were 1,761 students and 150 teachers in technical, vocational, and special schools in 1988.

Despite increasing student enrollments, which went from 36,705 students in 1981 to 58,796 students in 1988, education was not compulsory. In 1988 only about 25 percent of primary-school-age children attended school, an extremely low percentage by all standards. Although the government set enrollment quotas for high schools, in no instance did they come close to being met in the 1980s. Only about 8 percent of junior high-school-age and less than 3 percent of high-school-age children were enrolled in 1988.

Bhutan's literacy rate in the early 1990s was estimated at 30 percent for males and 10 percent for females by the United Nations Development Programme, ranked lowest among all least developed countries. Other sources ranked the literacy rate as low as 12 to 18 percent. In 2015, the literacy rate was 59.5 percent.

Some primary schools and all junior high and high schools were boarding schools. The school year in the 1980s ran from March through December. Tuition, books, stationery, athletic equipment, and food were free for all boarding schools in the 1980s, and some high schools also provided clothing. With the assistance of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's World Food Programme, free midday meals were provided in some primary schools.

Higher education was provided by Royal Bhutan Polytechnic just outside the village of Deothang, Samdrup Jongkhar District, and by Kharbandi Technical School in Kharbandi, Chhukha District. Founded in 1973, Royal Bhutan Polytechnic offered courses in civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering; surveying; and drafting. Kharbandi Technical School was established in the 1970s with UNDP and International Labour Organization assistance. Bhutan's only junior college--Sherubtse College in Kanglung, Trashigang District—was established in 1983 as a three-year degree-granting college affiliated with the University of Delhi. In the year it was established with UNDP assistance, the college enrolled 278 students, and seventeen faculty members taught courses in arts, sciences, and commerce leading to a bachelor's degree. Starting in 1990, junior college classes also were taught at the Yanchenphug High School in Thimphu and were to be extended to other high schools thereafter.

Education programs were given a boost in 1990 when the Asian Development Bank (see Glossary) granted a US$7.13 million loan for staff training and development, specialist services, equipment and furniture purchases, salaries and other recurrent costs, and facility rehabilitation and construction at Royal Bhutan Polytechnic. The Department of Education and its Technical and Vocational Education Division were given a US$750,000 Asian Development Bank grant for improving the technical, vocational, and training sectors. The New Approach to Primary Education, started in 1985, was extended to all primary and junior high schools in 1990 and stressed self-reliance and awareness of Bhutan's unique national culture and environment.

Most Bhutanese students being educated abroad received technical training in India, Singapore, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the Germany, and the United States. English-speaking countries attracted the majority of Bhutanese students. The vast majority returned to their homeland.

Success by the end of the nineties

In 1988, there were 42,446 students and 1,513 teachers in 150 elementary schools in Bhutan, 11,835 students and 447 teachers in 21 secondary schools, 4,515 students and 248 teachers in 9 high schools. 63% of primary and secondary school students are boys. 70% of teachers are men.

In technical and special schools at that time, there were 1761 students and 150 teachers.

Only a small part of school-age children was enrolled in education - 25% of the primary age, 8% of the middle school age and only 3% of the senior school age, literacy was 30%. In recent years, the situation has improved significantly.

A significant part of schools operate as boarding schools. The school year lasts from March to September. In schools, students receive free teaching aids. With the assistance of international organizations, students receive free meals at a number of schools.

A lot of Bhutans are studying abroad - in India, Japan, Singapore, Germany and in English-speaking countries. A large majority return to Bhutan upon graduation.

Current status

(according to the official page of the Ministry of Education of Bhutan and the UNESCO Report)

Currently, basic education is defined as 10 years, and full education takes 13 years: a year of preparatory class (PP), 6 years of primary school (PS), 2 years of junior high school (LSS) and 2 years of middle school (MSS ) and 2 years in senior high school (HSS). Beginning of training - at six years old. After the 8th, 10th and 12th grade exams are taken. Statistics show that 87% of those who have completed primary school go on to study in secondary. 95% of those entering secondary school graduate from it, having received basic education. Forty percent of high-performing students go to high school, another 25% continue to study in a private high school. After graduating from high school, students who have shown the best academic performance continue to study abroad.

Schooling is free. However, parents incur small expenses for the improvement of the school, the purchase of uniforms, travel. Sometimes parents are forced to take their children out of school for economic reasons.

As of 2008 (according to the official page of the Ministry of Education of Bhutan) in Bhutan there are:

266 public elementary schools (CPS)

94 elementary schools (PS)

91 Junior High School (LSS)

45 Intermediate Secondary Schools (MSS)

32 senior high schools (HSS).

In addition, there are private schools that are required to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Education. There are more than 500 schools in the country.

In 2004, 84.3% of children received primary education, this year 136,000 people studied at schools, while school enrollment is constantly growing. There are an average of 31 students per teacher.

Women and education

The number of girls in Bhutan receiving an education is increasing however, women still fall behind men due to things such as early pregnancy and gender stereotypes. Tertiary Education is a field in which Bhutanese women fall behind in, mainly due to high maternal mortality rates and early pregnancy. However, the primary enrollment rate for girls attending school was 98.8%, compared to boys which was 97% in 2016. This is due to the government increasing its investment in human capital in the last 30 years.

Indian Teachers in Bhutan

Since the beginning of education in Bhutan, teachers from India, especially Kerala has served in some of the most remote villages of Bhutan. In honour to their service 43 retired teachers who served for long time in were invited to Thimphu, Bhutan during the teachers day celebrations in 2018 and individually thanked by His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. To celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations between Bhutan and India, 80 teachers who served in Bhutan were honoured by the Education Minister Jai Bir Rai at a special ceremony organized at Kolkata, India on 6 January 2019. Currently, there are 121 teachers from India placed in schools across Bhutan.