The first batch of students will begin classes at the country’s first full-fledged international school in August this year. The Ministry of Education and Skills Development signed an agreement with EtonHouse International Education Group today to establish the international school in the country.
The school will operate from the former Kelki School campus in Thimphu.
Although the school will primarily serve the children of expatriate professionals and experts working on national initiatives, it will also be open to Bhutanese students.
Officials from the EtonHouse International Education Group said the school will accommodate around 500 students.
It is going to be a K-12 school, which is the full school education system starting from kindergarten and continuing up to class 12. The school will admit students in phases, beginning with children aged between three and 11 years.
“For our current cohort, we aim to start from 3-year-olds to 11-year-olds. We want to make sure that we have the right children, but it also depends on who the learners are and who they are going to register to start with. But gradually, we want to make sure that we will have all the grades from nursery till 12,” said Atima Joshi, the executive principal of Group Head of Pedagogy, EtonHouse International Education Group.
The school will follow a play-based curriculum for early childhood education. It will later introduce the Cambridge curriculum for classes 11 and 12.
Officials said the school will enrol students based on their previous school reports. Bhutanese students will receive a 40 per cent subsidy on school fees. The admission fee will be announced later this week.
The school will also provide scholarship opportunities for Bhutanese students.
Half of the faculty will be international teachers experienced in the curriculum, while the remaining half will be Bhutanese.
Sangay Chozom
