13-22 April

One of RHSS teacher, A, asked me what were the problems I faced when I came to RHSS to do teaching and sharing. She was interviewing me for her master thesis.

I answered her simply : “No problem at all, if I learn to manage my expectation.”

It is a simple truth that I have long come to terms with. It is an important truth, no matter what we do.

Problems abound everywhere, no matter what we do, and who we meet. It is our expectation that we need to learn to manage.

I am a true believer in Brain-Based Learning and I advocate what I preach.

Since the beginning of the March, I have been working on the teachers’ mindset because the brain simply won’t change without creating a buy-in.

It is pointless sharing my own experiences and boost about how “great” I am when I am not sensitive of the situation and the needs here.  As I interacted with the staff more, I realized there were so many untapped potentials in these teachers. We had among them, lecturer in Indian Teacher’s College, Master degree holder, philosophy etc.. These teachers brought with them a vast amount of knowledge especially in  research-based teaching methodologies.

There is a great need to unleash the potentials in the teachers, not just the students.

What I see in RHSS is the danger of complacency and mental block. The longer these “great” teachers stay in the school and find that all teachers are doing the traditional way and it works for the exam system here, they go with the flow. It becomes a new norm for them. 

There exists a possible “blame” mentality : “ It’s the system that drive us towards exam-oriented style of teaching”, “the students are so used to be spoon-fed and they do not like the creative way of getting them to think”, “we have the time constraint to complete our syllabus”.. and the list goes on.

Unfortunately, it is a genuine problem here.

There is no real motivation for the teachers to think out of the box because doing things a different way forces them out of the comfort zone, put them at a “risk” of not able to complete the syllabus since both teachers and students are experimenting on new methodology.

The constraints, availability of resources, mental mindset of teachers and students must be taken into consideration before any real changes can take place.

It takes great wisdom to be able to know when is the right time, right situation to apply the appropriate method with the teachers. We have to learn to work around situation when it seems impractical to implement certain methodologies.

I felt a great sense of joy in this country not because I had achieved much, but rather, the people and situation made me realize this important truth.

I learnt to co-teach with the various departments this week because I felt that was the way I could contribute towards the school.

My effort did not go wasted.  I had been receiving favorable comments from both teachers and students. This, alone was a great encouragement to me. I learnt to tweak the different methods to suit the current situation in RHSS. The teachers are very receptive towards it.

“In giving, we receive much more.” How true this was !

I drew inspiration from the school principal, Mr Tshering and the management adviser, Dr Wang. I see their hearts for the students in RHSS. The more I interacted with Mr Tshering, the more I respected him.

He is such a driven person! Together with Dr Wang, he works tirelessly for the school even during weekends.  And I knew that the students respected him as well. It was not easy for him to manage both internal and external school affairs.  He is a capable man and I hope God will continue to bless him with wisdom to bring the school to greater heights.

I received my due reward too. As I gave my time for my scouts, staff and friends, I received so much more. I felt very appreciated by them.

I enjoyed the Easter service at Thimphu church this week. It was quite amazing to see how the youth brought out the message of God’s love using simple props and songs. Together with the Nepali people, we celebrated our Easter in a very unique way.

Asked about the Nation of the Thunder Dragon, it does have its imperfections, just like Singapore. But when we learn to look beyond, happiness exists within our hearts. It is up to us to search from within and ask ourselves what we truly want in life.

A young Bhutanese will aspire to move out of the country to seek for greater opportunities. A city dweller like me will come to Bhutan to seek for inner peace.

Be it Bhutan or Singapore, the government of both countries have their own set of problem to grapple with.  Is there a perfect place in this world? I don’t think there will ever be one. It is the resilience of the people, the sense of rootedness in them that will make what a nation truly is and how it will become.