After a week-long educational exposure visit to Thailand, students and teachers under the Tongsa Penlop Inspire Programme returned to Bhutan yesterday. Led by Drukair, the initiative aims to provide international exposure to students from remote and underprivileged schools across the country.
The programme, designed to empower youth through exposure beyond the classroom, involved 47 students and seven teachers this year.
During the visit, participants engaged in structured learning and cultural exchange activities designed to build confidence, curiosity, and global awareness. The students interacted with peers at a local school, sharing classroom experiences and learning about different approaches to education, fostering empathy and cross-cultural understanding.
The exposure extended beyond classrooms. Visits to zoological parks and marine learning centres introduced students to biodiversity and environmental conservation, while recreational and theme park visits encouraged creativity, imagination, and confidence in unfamiliar settings.
The students were also exposed to the aviation sector, gaining first-hand insight into how air transport operates in Bhutan.
With the participants back in the country, teachers who were part of the programme said the experience reinforced the idea that opportunity is not defined by background.
Kezang Wangdi, a teacher of Trashi Yangtse PS said, “All the students here come from underprivileged family backgrounds. This is all because of them working hard in their studies. From those of us who have been on this trip, I want to tell all students who want to join this programme next year that it is not a matter of whether you come from a rich family or a poor family. As long as you work hard, there are people who are willing to support you.”
Meanwhile, for the students, the journey was deeply personal, offering many of them their first experience beyond Bhutan and changing how they saw their place in the wider world.
Karma Wangdi, a student of Sherubgatshel MSS in Thimphu said, “I come from a remote school. Before going there, I had never heard of or imagined a place like that. When I got there, it felt like paradise to me.”
Karma Chheying Zangmo, a student of Damphu MSS in Tsirang said, “In life, if we do not give in to hardship and keep pushing toward our goals and studying hard, there is nothing we cannot achieve.”
Dechen Pema Wangmo, a student of Thinleygang LSS in Punakha said, “If we youth want opportunities like this, we have to keep in mind that success never ends and failure never exists. If we start believing that we are ready and step up, opportunities like this will open up to us.”
Now, as the students return home, they return not just with photographs and memories, but with confidence, widened worldviews, and the belief that their circumstances do not define their potential. For many of them, this journey has planted an enduring sense of possibility, one that Trongsa Penlop Inspire Programme hope will shape their aspirations long after the trip has ended.
Karma Samten Wangda, Paro
