To Teach and Learn

We can do something! One afternoon after finishing a story in class 12, we discussed the theme of the story, ‘Ethics of modern science and its impact on human lives’. The story was about a teenager who undergoes a brain transplant but the operation rather than doing well only affects the main character who undergoes the operation.  The affect is emotional damage rather than the after effects of a scientific venture gone wrong.  The brain transplant also affects the other characters who are related or involved with the main character. So, we were discussing the theme at a broader level and talking about the effects of science on our planet and our lives. Global warming was the hottest topic that flared instantly. I said that global warming was a real threat to our survival as it threatened the very life of our planet, may be the life of our planet would end during our lifetime because the Earth is becoming hotter and the polar icecaps and the glaciers are ...

3 men caught with 284 grams of hashish Hash Possession 27 September, 2010 - Thimphu police have seized 7 three men, suspected to be involved in the illegal transactions of controlled substance. This is not the latest news regarding hash, the recent was young people in Punakha caught by police(BBS 4 th Oct). Hash or also known to some as maal or to some others as Laerim has come a long way. From what I read in Dasho Kinley Dorji’s ‘ Within the Realm of Happiness’ , Karma was one of the first who introduced smoking hash in the country. People didn’t know what the smokers were doing rubbing the plant on their palm then. And now the story between hash and young people is growing numerous, most of the time taking the front page or making the headlines. Most tourists I hear are amazed to see the abundance of marijuana growing freely in our country. Now, the reason why I write what I write is to support Has...

I was relived to find that he did not blame people like me who took very little interest in our national language. According to him, the national language suffered and could not develop because of the situations and conditions which were unavoidable. One key reason being the late modernization of our country. It was only in the early 1970s that modern developments started taking place in our country. Now in the tenth five-year developmental plan, our country is still not developed enough to produce goods in our country. Now, you may wonder like I did, what has this got do with the national language. According to Dasho Sherub for the development of any language, nouns/names are important but in our country since everything is imported from outside and have their own names, we need to invent new names in Dzongkhag. But, even after inventing names it is important to keep pace with the advancement that the technologies and developmental aspects are maki...

On the 24th of September my school was visited by the Secretary of the Dzongkha Development Commission, Dasho Sherub Gyeltshen. The objectives of the visit were clear as I know our national language is important but listening to the Dasho’s presentation, I came to know I never really realized how important it was to me as a Bhutanese. I had been clouded by ignorance and had been carried away by my English. How I was good and better in English had me never really be bothered with how poor I was or am in Dzongkha. I never thought about the impact it would have on my country’s future if there were more people like me. People like me who prefer to use English over Dzongkha and only look at the national language as crude and not rich enough to express ourselves. Language in any society is of utmost importance, the language that weaves the social fabric is the identity of that particular society. With globalization in place, every country is striving to promote their identity. One should...

My most vivid memory of a Dzongkha class in my primary level is the Dzongkha teacher’s stick. I remember one incident in class three when our Dzongkha teacher smacked one of my mates so hard that the boy shit in his gho. I can’t forget the teacher or the painful ashen face of the boy with whom I studied for six years.  As for me I can’t remember getting any serious beatings, may be because I was always on the guard, as I always managed to copy my homework on time and struggled to memorize my text though I always received little beatings every now and then but they were not considered beating as everyone got them. I escaped the serious beatings because I managed one way or the other. I was not good in Dzongkha. In fact I hated the subject. I am not proud to say that but as a child Dzongkha period was the longest period of the day for me. I remember how the clock ticked by painfully slow. I use to pray my Dzongkha lopen would meet with an accide...

Bhutan , the land of Drukpas, blessed with the hereditary kings since 1907, has always remained  a happy, independent and proud country. People in our country wear our unique national dress and take pride in doing things differently with the foremost goal of “Gross National Happiness” the royal vision that the whole world respects and appreciates today. Bhutan was continuously blessed with benevolent kings and the process of modernization came to this last “Shangri-La” in the 1970s and with modernization Democracy began to step in. A Century of Monarchy brought Democracy. Democracy is young in Bhutan, but it is greatly praised for its unique origin. Democracy has come to this country in the most unusual way. The people were happy and were unwilling to creep out of the monarchical wonderland. People did not demand for democracy but it came as a gift from the Golden Throne despite the peoples’ reluctance. Therefore, the irony here ...

If you ask a tourist how easy is it to get directions in Bhutan, he or she will tell you they never got  lost in Bhutan, not because our towns and cities are small but because most people living in the urban area understand or speak English. However, the situation in the classroom is different and belongs to a completely different context. Though we learn English right from our elementary classes and though English is the medium through which other subjects are taught still only three or four students in a class of thirty five are good in English in most classes in most schools. Now when I say good in English you may wonder the scale with which I am measuring my students and qualifying them as good. My standards are shamefully humble and I have to do this not because I want to but because I have to. If a student is in class nine and doesn’t know the difference between ‘there’ and ‘their’ or if a student is in class eleven and doesn’t know ...