Schools across Bumthang will now grant only a one-day holiday during local festivals. Local leaders decided this during the recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu to ensure that extended holidays during religious festivals do not hamper learning. Bumthang is blessed with several sacred sites and monasteries that host annual religious festivals, but schools do not follow a uniform practice when granting holidays for these festivals.
Most places in Bumthang are culturally rich and spiritually significant. These sacred sites are believed to be where deities and supernatural powers reside. To ensure cultural continuity and strengthen the connection between believers and the divine, locals conduct festivals.
However, the District Education Sector found that holidays granted for these festivals varied from place to place.
Concerned about the inconsistency, the sector raised the need to standardise the number of holidays provided during local festivals, adding that excessive holidays can affect the overall quality of education.
Chief District Education Officer Kinzang Wangchuk said, “Even principals have expressed their concerns that there are too many holidays for local festivals. Whenever approval comes from the relevant authority, schools have to send students on holiday. Frequent holidays disrupt the flow of teaching and learning. Therefore, we discussed whether it would be possible to minimise these holidays for students in the future.”
Local leaders voiced similar concerns adding that sometimes schools decide on their own without consulting local authorities.
Chhoekhor Gup Sangla said, “So far, we have been issuing orders to grant only one day holiday as directed by the Culture Office. Sometimes, when the festival falls on a Sunday, we do not even need to issue any order.”
Chhumey Mangmi Kezang Dorji said, “In our gewog, the administration used to grant two days of holiday in the past. The main reason was to allow both civil servants and students to participate in the festivals and help preserve our culture.”
Ura Mangmi Khandu Tshering said, “For schools in our gewog, we do not even have to issue an order. Sometimes the schools decide on their own and declare holidays. When we ask the students, they say they are on holiday for three days. So, the issue does not come from the gewog administration but from the school management.”
The District Culture Officer clarified that only one-day official government holiday should be granted for local festivals according to the guideline issued by the Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development in June, 2024.
District Culture Officer Kezang Duba said, “According to the guideline issued by the Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development, only one day of government holiday is permitted for local festivals.”
After extensive deliberation, the house unanimously agreed that all schools under their respective gewogs will observe only one-day holiday during local festivals. The chairperson of the Dzongkhag Tshogdu directed that the guideline be circulated to all gewogs for strict implementation and reference.
Thinley Dorji, Bumthang
