Education system in Bhutan
The education system in Bhutan was due to the great educational reform in the 1960s of traditional Buddhist education that was imparted their own monks mainly in Buddhist temples. The educational reform established a three-tier educational system based on the western model parallel to the previously existing monastic educational system. Bhutan's education system is characterized by the fact that, despite the introduction of new educational standards based on the Western model, traditional Buddhist education is maintained and there is also an exchange between the two areas of knowledge.
Monastic educational tradition
As one of the traditional four Buddhist states in the Himalayas, Bhutan has a long tradition of Buddhist life. Padma Sambhava is said to have taught students from Bhutan in the 8th century. According to legend, his student, the translator Denma Tsemang , designed Bhutan's national script around 750. Since at least this period there are isolated monk schools starting from Tibet, where the knowledge was passed on from teacher to student. This resulted in a large number of competing sects of Buddhism, which were located at the individual monasteries. Only the monk Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel , who is considered the founder of modern Bhutan , was able to secure priority among the competing schools of his Drugpa-Kagyu school. By founding the Chari monastery in Thimphu , he ensured the continuity of monastic education that has existed since then.
In addition to ritual and tantra studies, Bhutan's 15 Shedras offer philosophical studies. These are divided into three levels and correspond to the level after the higher education entrance qualification , the Bachelor and finally the Master . The Sang Chokhor Buddhist College is also state-accredited. Its rector is on the board of directors of the Royal University of Bhutan .
Modern educational offer
As a supplement to the monastic educational tradition, Bhutan has steadily expanded a three-tier educational system based on the Western model since the educational reform. The free ten-year schooling begins from the age of six and is divided into a six-year elementary school with an upstream pre-school and a secondary school based on it. Following this primary education, there is a choice between training and a two-year secondary education that entitles you to study. The course as a tertiary education area is offered in a bundle by the Royal University of Bhutan .
The first secondary school in the country was the Jesuit- run Sherubtse High School in 1968 , from which the later Sherubtse College emerged . The first higher state educational institution in Bhutan was the Teacher Training Institute , which was also founded in 1968 to train teachers for the country's own needs, which is now the Samtse College of Education . This was founded to promote nationwide literacy in the country, which was still feudal until then . This goal has not yet been achieved. In 2005, only 81 percent of school-age children attended school. The reason given is the still inadequate infrastructure. Some students have up to three hours to walk to school.
Universities
Several hundred schools have emerged since the educational reform, as well as nine university institutes, which in 2003 were merged into the decentralized Royal University of Bhutan. These are u. a.
- Samtse College of Education, the oldest teacher training institution in the country in the westernmost dzongkhag Samtse , which awards the Bachelor of Education
- Paro College of Education , the second teacher training institution in the country, also in the west in Dzongkhag Paro , which awards the Bachelor of Education
- Sherubtse College , Bhutan's only internationally recognized university since 1983, was able to award university degrees in cooperation with Delhi University until 2003 .
In 2012, with the University of Medical Sciences Act of Bhutan (UMSB) , the government decided to found another university, which is to be dedicated to the urgently needed training of medical professionals, such as nurses and doctors. The University of Medicine, founded in Thimphu in 2013 , was renamed Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences (KGUMSB) in 2015 in honor of the ruling Druk Gyalpo . However, the program has teething problems. For example, due to a lack of staff (as of November 2019), the originally intended Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree cannot be awarded. Instead, the focus of education within the Faculty of Health Sciences is on nursing staff. There is also a faculty of traditional medicine and a post-graduate school that awards the MD after four years .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e B. Denman, S. Namgyel: Convergence of Monastic and Modern Education in Bhutan? In: International Review of Education . tape 54 , no. 3-4 , July 2008, ISSN 1573-0638 , pp. 475–491 , doi : 10.1007 / s11159-008-9085-0 (English, link.springer.com [accessed November 19, 2019]).
- ^ Samtse College of Education website, accessed November 19, 2019
- ^ F Rennie, R Mason: The Development of Distributed Learning Techniques in Bhutan and Nepal . In: International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning . tape 8 , no. 1 , March 2007, ISSN 1492-3831 (English, irrodl.org [PDF; 86 kB ; accessed on November 19, 2019]).
- ↑ a b kgumsb.edu.bt website, accessed November 20, 2019
- ↑ K. Tshering: Annual Report 2017 - 2018 Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan . 2018 (English, kgumsb.edu.bt [PDF; 1,2 MB ; accessed on November 20, 2019]).