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H istory in Dzongkha goes awry

3 January 2009

Since the implementation of Bhutan History in Dzongkha for Classes VII and VIII, lab assistants, librarians, and non-formal education instructors have been struggling to reawaken history, according to an impact study on Teaching of Bhutan History in Dzongkha for Classes VII and VIII.

Findings show that instead of teaching History, more emphasis has been given on the teaching of language in history classes. Hence, if history teaching in Dzongkha is to be continued by either History or Dzongkha teachers, there could be other implications.

Only 14 percent of the history teachers are trained and have a good command over Dzongkha. More than 50 percent are Dzongkha teachers without the knowledge of History teaching strategies. This has led to ineffective teaching of history with lecture method dominating history classes. The study shows that 62.2 percent of the teachers have agreed that teaching history requires specific skills different from those required in teaching other subjects. On an average, only 11% of the teachers teaching history in Dzongkha have received support and training to handle the subject.

A teacher said how it was difficult to teach wholeheartedly. When asked about their confidence in teaching history in Dzongkha, only 65.4 percent of the teacher participants agreed that they were confident. The system still has 34.6 percent of the teachers who are not confident in teaching the subject.

The Opposition Leader writes in his blog how he had to send his son for further studies to Darjeeling due to the government’s decision to teach history in Dzongkha. He said, “In the last three years, thousands of our students have learnt little history and they probably now dislike Dzongkha even more. Not good for the students. Not good for our national language. Not good for our country.”

Research findings from class observations show that history teachers never use writing in their class because of lack of confidence in writing in Dzongkha. On the other hand, Dzongkha teachers use only lecture method in their class due to lack of pedagogical skills. The research also points out other problems like textbook translation, lack of reference materials in Dzongkha, and inconvenience of two teachers teaching the same subject. There are inconveniences of conducting one examination in two languages.

67.2 percent of the principals reported that there is a shortage of teachers for teaching history in Dzongkha. Concerned about lack of vision, a principal recommended continuous research, better planning and organisation for implementing such changes. In a comparable way, another principal said that there was lack of planning and preparation during introduction of the change.

The research used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to generate data from all the stakeholders. Respondents included students, teachers, principals, DEOs, Colleges of Education, curriculum officers, and parents. A total of 96 schools out of 131 eligible schools, 160 teachers, 134 principals, 15,722 students, four DEOs, two teacher educators, and nine parents were covered throughout the country besides nine class observations.

The study was initiated by the Ministry of Education after implementing Bhutan History in Dzongkha in 2006. “The Ministry had asked the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) to conduct a study on the subject and RUB instructed the college to do it,” said Kezang Sherab, the head of the research team. A total fund of Nu 8.5 million was given for the research.

By Pushkar Chhetri

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