Voices

Where are potential political leaders?

We read in the newspapers every day that many people are trying to form new political parties for the 2013 elections. But so far I haven’t seen any potentially strong leaders among the interested people. The media has mentioned a few names. Among them, there’s no one who can match the leadership quality and charisma [...]

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How to combat climate change

Climate change is not merely an increase in atmospheric temperature, rise in sea level or depletion of ice reserves. It is essentially allied with over-exploitation of exhaustible resources to fulfill endless human desires. Problems like poverty, disease, conflict, and environmental degradation are, therefore, likely to be exacerbated by climate change. There is no doubt that [...]

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Sherig Century reminders

Schools across the country observed the Teacher’s Day on May 2.  It was a day of multiple significance. It was the birth anniversary of our third Druk Gyalpo. It also marked one hundred years of modern education in Bhutan. Hundreds paid respects to their teachers, past and present. Perhaps, that’s the only day when teachers [...]

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Message from a primary teacher to parents

We understand that your child is the most beautiful and beloved budding flower in the garden of your family – the precious bud that you aspire to help blossom into a magnificent flower. We also see you as a dedicated gardener who constantly endeavours for the growth and development of your budding child – from [...]

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Corporal punishment is a necessary evil

Mr Sonam K Gyamtsho’s article, ‘Spanking Should Have a Place in the Bhutanese Classrooms’, elicited a few moments of meditation on the issue that is wrongly viewed. I totally agree with him not necessarily because I’m a teacher myself, nor because I’m a masochistic disciplinarian. But because I’m also equally concerned about the galaxy of [...]

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Learning to Look Deeply at Life

More than 2,500 years ago the Buddha discovered that people see the world incorrectly. Because of this tendency, they create suffering for themselves and others. Sometimes, for example, we mistake a harmless object for a threat. As an example of how this problem arises, think of a guy who settles down in a dimly lit [...]

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Can we look for alternative roofing materials?

Every year at this time, as the season changes from the dry winter months to warm wet summer, we experience violent windstorms. And this is the time when we have to brace ourselves for violent weather conditions blowing off roofs of hundreds of homes across the country. This year too, damage to hundreds of roofs [...]

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Rupee Crunch – A crisis of economy, policy and vision

We always thought that only dollars, euros and pounds were foreign currencies. But the rupee? It was always here! How could it be a foreign currency? But a foreign currency it is! That is the message this ‘rupee crunch’ drove home quite loud and clear. We have to earn it! How do we do that? [...]

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Protecting weaker people: A need of the time

In January, Bhutan Observer ran an article calling for legislation on the need to protect the weaker section of the society and to enable them to live their lives in a dignified manner. For many, the issue may have looked irrelevant because we live in a GNH country and we still boasts of having a [...]

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Higher grades, better students? Or higher grades, lower standards?

One Monday afternoon, as I was preparing English lesson plans for the next day’s class, I received a call from a parent of my student.  She asked me what type of quality education we provided to her child in the school. She told me that her child obtained higher marks in many of the subjects [...]

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