The country has taken another step toward strengthening teaching and learning with the launch of the DigiGyel Project. The three-year project, launched today in Thimphu, intends to transform Bhutan’s education system by introducing artificial intelligence or AI literacy in high schools. The project will train more than 50,000 students and 300 teachers in essential AI skills.
The project, funded by the Dariu Foundation, an international NGO based in Switzerland, will provide more than 800 laptops to schools across the country.
During the launch of the project, 260 laptops were handed over to the education and skills development ministry.
Teachers of Bhutan Volunteers or VTOB is leading the initiative.
The project will prioritise more than 150 remote schools to help bridge the digital divide, the gap between people who can access and use digital technology and those who cannot.
“AI is developing rapidly. It will have a strong influence on everybody in this world. So it’s evident that young people, children should learn to use AI at an early age already, we hope to bring technology teaching skills to the countryside so that those children in the countryside have the same chance as all the other children,” said Thomas Trub, the founder/president of the Dariu Foundation.
“The DigiGyel project will be able to transform education. It will be in a process to supplement and at the same time support the initiative at the national level, whereby, as far as education is concerned, it will be able to transform education by enhancing learning. It will have a deviation from the traditional approach of education practices, whereby students need not depend on the individual teacher to clarify and to enhance their learning. They will be able to utilise AI to enhance their learning,” said Pemaa Tenzyin Namgyel, the general affairs coordinator, VTOB.
Further, the project will train teachers and students to use artificial intelligence responsibly and ethically, guided by the Education Technology Framework under the education and skills development ministry.
Sonam Yuden
Edited by Phub Gyem
