Gap in Current Education System in Bhutan

Education builds and sustains collective life of each citizen and a nation, for both good and bad. Most of the educational systems all around the globe focuses concentrically on producing academically smart graduates but neglects the need of core human values which in turn is a very need with the academic wisdom. According to the general statistics 2008 produced by Ministry Of Education, there are 552 formal schools and institutions, 391 monastic schools and 747 non-formal educations in Bhutan. Compare to the few decades ago, a vast changes and development has taken place in the field of education in Bhutan. Though every Bhutanese child is getting free education till degree level or even furthermore if one could obtain best of all in academic performance, yet there is a huge gap in the education system. The students are enjoying all the facilities of education system but they are not learning the core values of their life. However the current education system is focused so much on academic excellence that it has some of the gaps such as deterioration of the culture and tradition, completion of syllabus with irrelevant content, examination-oriented society, lack of organizing educational tour and unhealthy competitions among learners.

The gap in the education system in Bhutan leads to deterioration of the cultural and traditional value. Culture is the distinctive ideas, customs, social behavior, products or way of life of particular nation. In olden days when the people were not much educated, they always preserved the culture for future generation. The Bhutanese people used to preserve the culture by always wearing our National dress that is gho and kira and speaking the national language but the youth of today do not think about preserving those cultures. The youth prefers wearing t-shirts and shorts rather than wearing national dress. Moreover, Wheller (2011) stated that the modern education has influence the thought of youth. According to GNH Commission (Tenth five Year Plan 2008-2013) about 46 percent of Bhutanese youth are influenced due to outside culture which results in disintegration of GNH goals of preservation of the cultural and tradition. All the western cultures are being practiced in Bhutan and the cultures of our country are not taken care. Most of the educated people prefer to wear the western clothes because they are exposing to the western culture. These is one of the greatest concern of our Fourth Druk Gyelpo. As mentioned in the article of Third Convocation of Royal University of Bhutan published in the Kuensel on 17th February 2009, His Majesty stated that, “The future of our nation lies on the hand of our youth”.  Therefore, the gap in education system leads towards the deterioration of the Bhutanese culture and tradition.

Education system in Bhutan has failed to provide related syllabus. For instance a teacher teaches irrelevant chapter and tries to complete a chapter per hour without analyzing whether the students are able to capture or not. Moreover, the priority is given to completion of syllabus rather than focusing on how much students are able to understand the content. This leaves more number of students in the state of confusion rather than understanding the content covered. Resnick (1989) stated that to understand is to comprehend, and to comprehend is to take in and embrace. One understands a process and idea only if one can get the main concept of what is being taught and its purpose in real life.

Another gap of education system in Bhutan is examination-oriented society. From the root level of school education till the higher education, marks score in examination or test is all that matters and intelligent is measured based examination mark rather than acquired knowledge. Students with higher percentage in examination are appreciated and gain affection from the society but the low grades students are looked-down and have low self-esteem and isolation. As Thomas (2009) stated that examination-oriented students have a little knowledge on the wider perspective of live than the students who learn for good purpose of life. Everyone should understand that every individual is unique; some excels academically while others can excel in other area.  Moreover the sole focus of learning in present scenario for students is just to obtain higher grades, rather than obtaining basic concept and purpose in life that lack to provide the core values such as respect, compassion and humanity. Therefore it is essential to recognize the students’ potential in each field rather than focusing only on grades acquired in examination.

Lack of organizing educational tour is another drawback. For instance the students are taught about the functioning of machines and factories without any practical demonstration and knowing the reason behind it. The main objective of organizing the educational tour is to demonstrate the functioning of machines and factories practically which helps the students to understand the idea and concept. However students fails to expose their knowledge in real environment due to the lack of organizing educational tour. Moreover, the student’s analyzing power is narrowed as all the teaching and learning process are based on textbooks. So, educational tour plays a great role in developing the student’s practical knowledge and preparing the students to face the real environment as stated by Narashimhan (n.d.). Furthermore, Hafeez and Skhail (2011) stated that organizing educational tour is helpful in accomplishing motivation, clarification and stimulating towards learning. Therefore it is very important to organize such program so that students can have effective learning.

Teaching and learning method creates unhealthy competition among learners. Most of the teachers do only their part of teaching from the book and create an environment in class such that students become very competitive to a level, where one even reaches to an extent of disliking own friends. This kind of unhealthy competition creates disharmony, robs student’s self-esteem and increases the level of anxiety about one’s education as mentioned by Stephen (2012). As Biggs (1987) stated in his article that the teachers should be role model and they must teach the students about the power of teamwork, inquiry and communication skills among students rather than letting the students to compete with each other. 

To conclude, the education system in Bhutan provides free educations to youth. Though youth are given the freedom to study but the current education system mainly focus on academic excellence. However, the gap in education system in Bhutan leads to deterioration of the culture and tradition, completion of syllabus without related content, lack of organizing educational tour and unhealthy competitions among students. Due to these failures, students tend to lose the understanding and importance of core values such as determination, hard work, respect and compassion. To make learning effective, experiential learning should take place. Moreover, the importance should be given to the quality, rather than quantity. Talks on important topics such as character building should be given to students. Learning good values allows students to distinguish the good from the bad and the true from the false.

References

 Biggs, J.B. (1987). Student     Approaches to Learning and Studying: Australian Council for Educational Research.

Hafeez, H. & Shakil, M. (2011). Importance of educational field trips. Retrieved from:http://theravenmag.com/2013/09/.importance-of-educational-field-trips/.

Narashimhan, N. (n.d.). Teacher should also focus on practical knowledge of students. Retrieved    from http://www.indiastudychannel.edu.com 

Resnick, L.B. (1989). Objectives of Education System is Knowing, learning, and Understanding. Retrieved from https://www.teachpedia.com

Stephen, J. (2012). Pros and cons of competition in schools. Retrieved from http://aktuell.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pm2012/pm00136.html.en

Thomas, B. (2009). Discipline and values plays an important role in education system along with the academic excellence. Retrieved from http://www./Desipline-and-valeus-plays-an-important-role-along-with-academic-excellence/  

Wangchuck, C. (2009). His Majesty the King’s speech at the 3rd Convocation of the Royal University of Bhutan. Your monthly guardian. Retrieved from http://www.yourmonthlyguardian.com

Wheller, M. (2011). Advantages and disadvantages of modern education system. Retrieved from 

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-methods-tips/12891-competition-in-schools-pros-and-cons/

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