Can an education system rooted in Bhutan’s traditions inspire reforms in Africa? That question brought delegations from Burundi and Nigeria to Bhutan this week for the South-South Knowledge Exchange Workshop on the Bhutan Baccalaureate. The workshop provides a platform to share Bhutan’s distinctive approach to education while learning from the experiences of visiting nations.
The Bhutan Baccalaureate is not just about what to learn but how to learn.
Since its introduction at The Royal Academy in Paro in 2016, the model has expanded to 23 schools. It has gained recognition from global institutions like the University of Oxford, Finland and OECD Schools+ Network.
And this time, it has attracted officials from Burundi and Nigeria. They want to understand the curriculum, identify areas of collaboration and plan a roadmap.
And one of the ways is to visit schools and see the model firsthand.
The Director of the Druk Gyalpo’s Institute explained that the model can be adapted to meet the specific needs of each country or school.
“If we were to implement it in Burundi, for example, the Ministry of Education there would need to collaborate with us. We would spend a fair amount of time training their master trainers. Once the master trainers are in place, we would work together with the colleges of education and then gradually expand to schools, not all at once, but starting with a pilot project,” said Dasho Arun Kapur, Director, Druk Gyalpo Institute.
There are plans to present the Bhutan Baccalaureate internationally in the coming months.
“It helps me to develop various leadership qualities such as rigour, resilience, and it also helps me find my innate potential. At the end, it helps me to fulfil His Majesty’s vision of creating a constructive, contributory citizen,” said Thinlay Phuntsho, Student, Royal Academy.
“The five areas of development are cerebral area, emotional area, physical area, social area and spiritual area. Through these, we try to compete with ourselves instead of competing with others. We try to strive for a better version of ourselves,” said Sonam Lakhi Dema, Student, Royal Academy.
The Druk Gyalpo’s Institute is hosting the workshop in collaboration with the World Bank. It ends this Sunday.
“We have brought some technical expertise to help facilitate the conversation over the next few days, so I think that’s an important element of how we may be able to support this kind of self-learning, which I think is important for development objectives,” said Xavier Furtado, Country Manager, Bhutan, World Bank Group.
This workshop signals Bhutan’s growing role in global education reform, showing its model can inspire change far beyond its borders.
Kinley Bidha
Edited by Tandin Phuntsho
