If the economic crisis and disruption in education system imposed by COVID-19 have taught Bhutan anything, it is the need for re-skilling and up-skilling, and re-setting education and job system in the country. Conversing on ideas for ‘Future of Skills, Work and Education’, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy (BCMD) had the first conversation series on Thursday.
Reports show that more than 9,000 Bhutanese returned to the country and around 50,000 Bhutanese working in Tourism Industry lost their jobs due to pandemic. Moreover, every year more than 8,000 youth enter the job market. The volatility in job markets caused by the pandemic, the panellists discussed the need to create future-fit workforces.
“One of the things is that the innovation part has to play a major role. As we teach our youth in specific skills, at the same time in that context we do need to make sure that they are generalist also. Of what happened in tourism sectors all of a sudden. Had we included some of the technical and constructional education curricula, they would have been better prepared to do some sort of switch roles,” said Kinga Tshering, the CEO for TVET Reform.
“I think we can really capitalise on global knowledge that is already available now but in order to get there, we have to really change our mentality of being this exclusive destination. Whether you are an employee or an employer, you have to really think about the landscape of the global workforce as the market for you,” said Sonam Pelden, a technology entrepreneur.
And educating children in the classroom as well as through online medium seems to be future.
“Blended learning which we have been trying to institutionalise is here to stay. COVID has now given us the realisation that both policymakers and practitioners that the future of learning is through blended learning. It cannot just be schools or just online, it has to be blended rightly,” said Anir Chowdhury, a Policy Advisor with the UNDP Bangladesh.
“What we need right now is people who can learn throughout their lives, so that they can change jobs which leads to a different paradigm. We need an education system that is more authentic and inquiry-driven that allows children to learn at their own pace. Other than the curriculum and the pedagogy, we can actually flip the classroom, students can now watch the lectures or teaching online before and classroom is much more enriching environment, where you are discussing, abstracting and synthesizing,” added Tenzing Yonten, the Co-founder and Director of Royal Thimphu College.
The recommendations from the conversation series will be compiled and shared with decision-makers. It will be held twice a month.
Sangay Chezom
