Report on my work
in Bhutan
My Bhutan journey marked an
important chapter of my life. It was a journey that rejuvenates my spirit and therapeutic
to my soul. What I thought was a service to the Bhutan community, it became a
blessing I had never expected. I received so much more from the people in
return. The experience gave me confidence in what I want to do for the next
phase of my life and I am thankful that I took this step of faith. It took me a
lot of courage to forego what I have been comfortable doing but when I did,
there are surprises awaiting.
I did not regret my decision
of doing a 3 months service in Bhutan community, in fact, it is an experience
that many Singaporeans envy, and would love to have.
The experience did not turn
out to be what it originally intended. It took me quite a while to embrace
everything in my stride. I learnt to look at things with an open heart. I
adapted and tweaked my plan as the days passed. And the outcome of each event
continues to amaze me.
One thing the Bhutanese
never fail to impress me is their adaptability to situations. They are capable
of doing things even at the very last minute notice. Interestingly, they did it
well despite of the short period of preparation.
In retrospection, I felt
very enriched through the interactions of people and things. Most, if not all the Bhutanese people I
interacted with are simple, genuine and loving towards one another. This may
also explain their generally happy state of mind. Their spiritual faith are
deeply rooted in their heart and it is evident in their way of living.
I spent my first 2 weeks
adapting to the school environment and did many classroom observations. Most of
the teachers in Rinchen Higher Secondary School (RHSS) are untrained and they are
expected to learn on the job. The school places a lot of importance on
teachers’ development and there are dates specially set aside for teacher’s
training as well.
Proprietors play an
important role in the running of Bhutan private schools. They are the ones who
set up the school and provide the resources for the school. Our school
proprietor, Aum Sangay and her husband, Dasho are very approachable and
receptive to suggestions to improve the running of the school. RHSS are also
blessed to have Dr Wang as the management advisor. He is a great believer in
educating the future generation. He contributes a lot in terms of money and
time to the school. He took over the role as an officiating principal during Mr
Tshering’s (Principal) one month absence from school. I am blessed to learn
from him.
During my stay in RHSS, I
did numerous tasks besides teaching and sharing in school. I felt exceedingly
proud of my scouts when they did well in the cluster fund raising event,
together with the 6 scout masters. A 3 days 2 nights training camp did wonders
in cementing the bond among the fellow scouts.
I worked with the HODs on 2
main areas : Training and Resources. It is essential to get the resources (both
hard and soft copies) according to department so that old and new teachers can
tap on each other’s resources.
Due to the schedule of
various school events, I only managed to conduct 4 Professional Development
sessions with the teachers, namely : Gap Analysis of present and future,
Teaching and Motivational Strategies, Brain-based Learning, GROW model, 7
habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. The sessions were
well-received by the teachers.
To add value to the school
system, I volunteered to co-teach with the teachers during the weekdays. I
challenged teachers to think out of the box. It is important to teach using the
available resources and explore new ways of teaching to enhance learning from
both students and teachers. It was very encouraging to see a new wave of
enthusiasm among young teachers, always eager to take risk to try new things.
I supported the teachers in
making resources easily available for them. Even the proprietor, Aum Sangay,
started to note a difference in the teachers’ work ethic : A change for the
better.
In giving, we received much
more. That was the valuable lesson I learnt from Dr Wang and his wife, Lori. Dr
Wang has a big heart and he never hesitates to help anyone who is in need. I
was blessed by his generosity when I vacated my house in early June. I stayed at
his place for 9 days before I leave for Singapore.
The English standard of the
students presents a worrying trend. Many of the students repeated their grade
12 because of their poor command in English. I worked closely with the English
HOD and tried to understand the problems. The department needs to streamline
the year workplan and rethink a better monitoring system for both teachers’
development and students’ progress.
I was also invited to help
run the career forum for the girls in the school. Together with the Assistant
Principal for Student Support, Mdm Budhawanti, Lori, Mdm Sita and myself ran the 5 separate
sessions for the girls. The talk turned out to be a success. The sessions
surfaced different needs of adolescents and we realized that such forums were
useful to help to address the problems. Students were keen to share as long as
we provide a safe platform for them to share. The school will look into
organizing similar forums for the boys as well.
Bhutan, also known as the
Land of the Thunder Dragon, is blessed with rich biodiversity and mountains. It
has close relations with India especially in terms of its economic progress.
Many of the products are imported from India and sectors which requires manual
labour come mainly from the Indian workers.
Each province/ town is governed
by the Dzongkhag system. The civil servants work in Dzongs made of Bhutan
traditional buildings. The Bhutanese are
generally very religious people and there are lhakhang and monasteries
everywhere you go.
I also noticed the frequent
call for kidney donors in TV news. A large number of Bhutanese have renal
problem and the young ones are not spared. This may be attributed largely to
their high oil, salt and chili content diet. Chilli and cheese makes up most of
the Bhutanese dish. The most famous
Bhutanese dish is Emma Dachi.
Bhutan is not spared from
the influence of media since the nation opens to the outside world in 1990s.
The social fabric of Bhutanese family is also in danger of disintegrating
following more and more young people migrating to the city in pursuit of better
living standard. Many young people has no family support in the city and many
indulge in bad habits. Drug addiction and alcoholism among young people is fast
becoming a problem in Bhutan.
Saying all these, Bhutan
students are generally very respectful towards their teachers and they are willing to work hard.
They are the “dream students” of Singaporean teachers. My heart goes out to them and I simply want
to do more for them.
I started my travel in the
month of May. It is a good time to travel because flowers start to bloom in Spring.
I travelled to 4 places in consecutive weeks of May :
1.
“Tiger Nest” in
Paro ;
2.
A very
well-known monastery in Pha Jo Ding, Thimphu ;
3.
A farm house on
top of the Talo Mountain in Punakha ;
4.
“Bhutan
Switzerland” in Bumthang ;
Though
my stay in Bhutan was short, I made many good friendships and have many sweet
memories. I thanked God for His blessings and protection upon me during these 3
months and will continue to reminisce on my takeaways as I embarked on my next
phase of life. To God be the glory!
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