Schools take first GNH steps
6 March 2010
This year, there is an unmistakable air of earnestness in the Bhutanese schools.
Students in most schools meditate for a few minutes before the morning assembly. And each teacher leads a class meditation before starting any lesson.
A few weeks after the schools reopened, some principals and teachers are already implementing GNH values in their schools.
The principal of Chungkha Lower Secondary School in Chhukha, Sangay Dorji, said his school had started incorporating GNH values in school activities including meditation. The school is planning to adopt zero waste culture which will include segregating waste and making compost pits. Earlier, the school used to burn its waste.
Sangay Dorji said that, from this year, his school is taking agriculture seriously to stress the importance of self-sufficiency.
According to the principal of Lango Lower Secondary School in Paro, since the school started meditation among teachers and senior students, classes and morning assembly have become friendlier.
The school is now working towards becoming a green school.
Most principals said that infusing GNH principles in the curricula has not meant extra work for teachers since they have always been doing that, although unknowingly.
“The only difference is that now we will be doing it knowingly and with more focus,” said Jigme Dorji, the principal of Changangkha Lower Secondary School in Thimphu.
Sherubtse College has held an orientation programme on GNH for lecturers. “We will soon make the students aware of that,” said Director Singye Namgyal.
Private schools are not behind. Sunshine School in Thimphu has started doing its part including meditation, according to its principal.
“When a teacher enters the classroom, the minds of the students are all over the place. In order to bring back their monkey minds, they are made to meditate,” said Chencho Tshering, the principal of Yoezerling Higher Secondary School in Paro. The school has started meditation and it is already planning classroom lessons in a GNH way.
Meanwhile, some schools are facing unexpected hurdles. “We had an argument with the Dzongkha teachers, who believed that meditation should not be done without a proper master,” said Sangay Dorji. “I had to convince them that mediation in schools had got nothing to do with religion.”
Another principal said that some teachers were sceptical about implementing GNH in the school because they thought that it was a totally different subject.
“To make the small children meditate is a challenge,” said Jigme Dorji of Sunshine School.
By Tandin Pem
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Hats off to the Principal of Chugkha Lower Secondary School. This being a school from where my journey began, I keep close watch to its development. Each time I pass by the school, I can’t help appreciating the roles played by the successive principals and the teachers in shaping this school. It is a school of real happiness with green trees rising high in the air, vegetable gardens surrounding the small buildings, flowers blooming everywhere, etc. Above all the Jangchub Chorten stands iconic structure for spiritualism in curriculum-in practice. Thanks all the great teachers there.
this makes sense
“When a teacher enters the classroom, the minds of the students are all over the place. In order to bring back their monkey minds, they are made to meditate,” said Chencho Tshering, the prin cipal of Yoezerling Higher Secondary School in Paro.
this is shit
Sangay Dorji said that, from this year, his school is taking agriculture seriously to stress the importance of self-sufficiency.
rating this article 2.5/5