We began the morning with the announcement that the government of Bhutan was fast-tracking the new GNH curriculum development and in two weeks, trainers will begin to prepare for a nation-wide workshop for all of the country’s school principals. This marks the beginning of a three year process of infusing every school classroom and every subject (yes, including math!) with the principles of GNH.
Here are the opening remarks from conference coordinator Dr. Ronald Coleman of GPI, Atlantic:
“It’s very unlikely to be working directly with government. As NGO’s, we always have the feeling of knocking on some distant door. But here, today, we have the Minister of Education, Madame Secretary and His Excellency, the Prime Minister listening intently to this process and creating policy on the spot. We’ve come to the morning of the third day of the conference to a place that we never anticipated. We have an emerging action plan and in January 2010, 541 school principals and representatives of Bhutan’s teacher colleges will gather together for one week in preparation of educating for Gross National Happiness.”
So you might be asking, “what the heck is Gross National Happiness, anyway?” A good question that would result in a thousand answers. Gross National Happiness was mandated in the eighties by the 4th King of Bhutan, His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. He proclaimed that “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product.” The four pillars of GNH are “Environmental Conservation—care for nature and others,” “Cultural Promotion, preserve the wisdom of an ancient culture,” “Sustainable and Equitable Development, economic opportunities for all Bhutanese,” and “Good Governance, good citizenship.” These principles were laid out to guide Bhutan as it entered into a global economy.
Today, as a group of experts and observers, we are exploring how these lovely and lofty principles can be integrated into each subject taught in Bhutanese schools. Discussions have focused on teaching children skills in analytic and critical thinking, inquiry, experiential learning, outdoor education, environmental literacy, mindfulness, volunteerism, alternative assessment tools, and traditional knowledge. We are here to create the framework on which to hang GNH. In other words, as the Pandora’s box of modernization is opened and released in Bhutan, children can better understand which modern influences are sustainable and non-sustainable; which are precious and profane.
In an afternoon break-out group, I had the great fortune to model a school community service program with five high school students. The Bhutanese children attending this conference are remarkable: graceful, articulate, bright and very enthusiastic. One stand-out, Rohit, is surely destined to become the next Prime Minister. He is an amazing driven kid who is smart and unbelievably confident. There is a feeling among many conference participants, that the Bhutanese would have been better off conducting this process without a bunch of over-educated, meddling, know-it-all outsiders! That said, this outsider could not be more delighted with the opportunity of working with these kids who are so wonderful. I have to question why we would ever think of meddling with an education system that produced these bright lights! But, I digress. After the process, Rohit presented our discussion points to the entire conference with such passion and aplomb, that afterward, the Prime Minister remarked, “so, I hear you are after my job!”
This evening, I also had the great fortune of meeting Bunker Roy, an elegant man from Rajasthan, India, who started the Barefoot College. He trains women from all over the world to install solar systems for homes in poor rural villages. These systems provide light in areas without electricity through the use of solar lamps. He is an inspiration! Bunker has also created a children’s parliamentary system in rural India schools where children study democracy and vote for peer representatives between the ages of 6-14. These “ministers” govern areas that include several schools, many of which convene in the late afternoons after the children have finished their chores. The children study long after dark, and then step into their roles as ministers. They take their jobs very seriously.
“So you see,” explained Bunker, “she may tend her goats in the morning, but at night she is the prime minister. In addition to her family responsibilities, she has much to do. She must visit all the schools in her area. If a light burns out, she writes me a postcard and we come to fix it. If a teacher is using corporal punishment, I am alerted and he is fired. If a student is failing to come to school, the ministers let me know, and we handle that too”
Bunker’s parliamentary program caught the attention of the queen of Sweden, who visited Bunker in rural Rajasthan. When the Queen met the then 12 year old “prime minister,” Her Royal Highness remarked that the young girl seemed very confident and poised. The girl turned to Bunker and said, “you can tell her that is because I am the prime minister.”
Quotes from today:
“Bhutan is a multi-cultural, multi-religious country. We are looking for shared cultural values, not in imposing of one faith.”
“Education is a dangerous thing. It isn’t the uneducated causing problems in the world. It’s the educated. It’s not the poor, it’s the wealthy. It’s not the scientifically illiterate. It’s the scientifically literate.
“Bhutan needs to create an immune system to combat the dangerous aspects of modernization.”
“The biggest danger in the world today are disenfranchised teenage boys.”
More coming in a couple days!
Regards,
Betsy
0 comments:
Post a Comment