A Visit to Wangdue Court

Laws are made to keep peace and treat every one with sameness in the country. All citizens irrespective of position, religion and caste must be governed by it. If every citizen is to know laws then starting to learn from school days is a best option. Starting 2012, on the initiative of Her Royal Highness Ashi Sonam Dechen Wangchuk, School Law Club was started in three schools of Punakha HSS, Ugyen Academy HSS and Bajothang HSS coinciding with the His Majestry’s Birthday from Punakha. Gradually the numbers have increased and have reached many schools in all the dzongkhags.

Ever since its inception, Bajo HSS Law club has many students joining the club voluntarily. It is very heartening to see our young students so keen to learn laws. Like any other club in the school, Law club members meet every Wednesday. The activities for the club are designed by the club coordinator in discussion with the members that best suit their interest. To deviate from the solo presentation by the coordinator week in week out, guest speakers from Dzongkhag Court lead by Dasho Drangpon, Officer in Command from Royal Bhutan Police and Dzongkhag Legal Officer have talked to the members. Dasho Drangpon has been very supportive and passionate about the programme.

Law Club with Wangdue Drangpon

It is with this fervent reason that on 20^th August 2014, the club members were given an opportunity to see the actual court proceedings in the Dzongkhag court room. The coordinators may have explained the proceedings and students visualize but there is no better substitute than to see it live. Show casing the scenario of the court starting from how the day in the court begins to how trails are conducted to how the day ends, these experiences embedded in the minds on the club members will benefit many other students who were not very fortunate to visit court through sharing sessions. The club members were full of praise and smiles all around for they got to be part of the history before a new glamorous court stands. Many thanks to Dasho and other officials in the court remain indebted for the opportunity and experience that will take laws dearly in their hearts and as profession for some members later. And a refreshment out side the court room was cherished and more so a photo with Dasho Drangpon in the Court room; a memorable moment in the life of the club members. The journey to learning laws doesn’t end here and we continue to move forward with promises our own to serve Tsa Wa Sum at our own BEST.

Contributed by Tshewang Jamtsho
Vice Principal, Law Club Master

Read More

What is this i-School all about?

Kailash Shongbhen Rai.

M.Sc. (Organic Chemistry), B.Sc. PGCE, PGCTIS,    ANC.

Bajothang Higher Secondary School.

H

onorable Prime Minister, His Excellency Tshering Tobgye envisaged an ICT enabled knowledge generating, educated citizens in our society, at par with anyone current, progressive and productive. The result; i-School project was conceived, designed and devised with-in a very short gestation period with a huge dream. This dream will be one of the most revolutionary in the history of Education System of Bhutan. This little migration from chalk and talk to nearly Si-Fi mode of high end technological teaching learning system is by itself an achievement. What was Neil Armstrong’s foot to moon could be i-School project to our Education System. Its small but its very very big!!!

The Ericsson Company has undertaken this project as a Corporate Social responsibility to nurture and realize Honorable Prime Minister’s vision. The high end gadgets, state of the art facilities like Eagle eye cameras, smart board, i-podium, document cameras, AV systems, smart panels, laptops, smart projectors, logistics and engineering were provided by Ericsson. Co-laterally, Bhutan Telecom and Druknet are other two stake holders, who provided with Fiber Optic lines with 10 Mbps band high-speed Internet services to enable seemingly real-time, online video conferencing facilities, let alone internet aspects. They are also responsible for providing professionals for commissioning of fiber optic lines, splicing, grafting and terminating at desired locations, installing media converters, smart routers and gate keepers, assigning them with IP addresses and securing them with leak proof ambience.

This is in pilot phase with the project encapsulating six schools at different locations. Pelkhil School in Thimphu is classically named as Master School. This is being the nodal point, from where teaching and delivery of lesson takes place. The lesson delivered are being captured by the cameras and are served to other five classes at participating schools online and real-time; Tendruk HS School, Bajo HS School, Khuruthang MS School, Khatshadrapsu MS School and Phuntsholing MS School. And also the lesson is being recorded and archived at one of the data-centers servers at Druknet. The proposal for formation of content moderating and editorial board would allow live streaming of the classes to the internet, thus allowing concept of truly public and global viewing to come in prospective in future.

The classes are normal except that single teacher from one point can reach hundreds of students at geographically different locations through video conferencing facilities. All these happen on a jiffy, real time online and face-on. As of now Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and English are being taught over this provision.

Apart from the regular curricular lessons, these schools may convene meetings and conferences, seminars, to discuss various aspects of this system of teaching-learning experiences. They also can collaborate and invite guest lecturers from any corner of the world in near future. My imagination is an erudite professor from Princeton or Havard, Standford or MIT talking to our students. I know I am dreaming, but it could not be very far away, anyway.

I have seen billions of glitters in students’ eyes through my short period of teaching life. This time, I have seen brighter ones as well. Students are excited, engaged and collaborative in learning not only lessons taught but also cultural exchange, sharing of ideas, quipping of wits, smarting each other and on top of this pyramid stands the rippling fractal of connecting friendship.

The formal launching of this program took a fly on March 29, 2014 at 9:15 AM at Pelkel School, Thimphu. This occasion was graced by Honorable Prime Minister, Dignitaries from Ericsson, CEO Bhutan Telecom, Director of Department of School Education and professionals. It was a moment, yet another step towards modernity in all its right. A moment when teachers started burying their boards and chalks, tending to nostalgic memories of them.

And yet another historic moment of this journey was the providential gracing of the i-class by the His Majesty, the Druk Gyalpo and Her Majesty, the Gyaltsuen at Tendruk HS School, while the English class was delivered from the Master School on the April 1, 2014. By itself, it is an inspiration to walk little taller.

A posteriori:  i-School solution is not about replacing contact teaching with technology. It’s a tool to enliven teaching – learning process through collaborative pool of expertise to give edge to teaching profession. 

Read More

iSchool

Our School is one of the six schools selected for piloting iSchool Project in Bhutan. Tendruk Higher Secondary School, Khasadrapchu Middle Secondary School, Khututhang Middle Secondary School, Phuntsholing Middle Secondary and Pelkhil School are the other school connected, with Pelkhil as the center.

The project was launched formally on 29th March 2014 by Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay in Pelkhil and the participating schools took part in the event virtually. 

Prime Minister talking to all 6 Schools during the Inauguration  

What is iSchool Project about?

The iSchool Project is a joint undertaking of the Royal Government of Bhutan, Bhutan Telecom and Ericsson. In the face of a continuing shortage of qualified teachers, the project hopes to take advantage of the opportunities available from the extensive communication assets already installed in Bhutan to provide a multiplier impact. The project will use the high speed internet network in conjunction with top of the line video conferencing technology to allow a few teachers to reach dozens of classrooms and hundreds of students, across Bhutan in real time. Teachers at the ‘master' classroom will teach and reach students in the ‘remote' classroom via video and will also be able to receive and answer normal questions from the students in any of the classrooms.
The ‘remote' classrooms selected to participate in the pilot phase are not really that remote given the short time that was available to set up the project. However, in the future, the benefiting schools could well be extremely remote and yet benefit from the best teachers located in selected ‘master' classrooms located anywhere in Bhutan.
Besides having access to top quality teachers on a live platform, the lessons will also be available for download for students who missed a lesson, and these lessons can be downloaded from any school.
The iSchool idea is not intended to provide a single solution to cover every issue in the education sector. It is just one tool, that in conjunction with many other programs will help to cover every need in the sector.
In addition to providing live video conferencing technology to reach many schools, technology such as the ‘smart' camera and associated software provides innumerable tools to the teacher to improve the delivery process. Smart whiteboards with an unlimited number of ‘screens' that can be switched on demand effectively provides an endless number of blackboards on which to present lessons. A document camera will enable the teacher to show real samples to help explain specific concepts to the students.
Initially a few core subjects including Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and English will be taught. (From Phekhil, Facebook)

Read More

Report: International Women's Day Celebration

 8^th March is internationally celebrated as the “International Women’s Day”. It is an important occasion for all of us to pause for a moment to reflect on ourselves, to appreciate how much has been done and what more needs to be done in the field of gender equality. Moreover, it is the day to acknowledge all the men and women in the world for making this world a better place for everyone to live in.

 On the day, we have organized a debate at Bajo H.S.S in Wangdue to observe and celebrate IWD chaired by the District Education Officer. The program would not have been a great success without the help of the school administration, RENEW volunteers, DAISAN members and other volunteers. Therefore, we would like to sincerely extend our heartfelt gratitude to all those for making the event an extraordinary one.  

The day’s program started off by reading the address of Her Majesty Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuck to the nation followed by several cultural items and a speech by the chief guest. Then was the debate on “Equality for women is progress for all”carried out.

The purpose of organizing a debate on such occasion is not just to observe the day but also to create awareness amongst the students and also with the target of reaching the parents and people in the community at large through the students.

The Organizers with Chief Guest

 The volunteers of Wangdue Dzongkhag and the DAISAN members are optimistic that the program made a great impact on the people of Wangdue District in making them understand the fact that women and men are equal beings, deserve the same respect, opportunities and are also equally responsible for building a better future. 

Read More

Democracy at Work in School

For the First time in Bajothang the selection of captain goes truly democratic. This Election of Captains in school is the initiative of School Democracy Club headed by Ms. Sangay Lhaden and Chaired by Principal Shangkar Lal.
The event became very popular among the students, which is evident from the trending on social media. There was overwhelming activity on our Facebook Page where the pictures of naminees were posted. And the event is reported by four Students bloggers:

"Today’s election was like the real election as all the e-voting machines were there, polling stations and polling officers were also there. All the stations was arranged in the MPH, students were voting with their full confidences as during the morning, Lopen Tshering Gyeltshen showed us demo on how to use e-voting machines. "- Wrote Dhan Bdr on his Blog "Dhan's Ultrabook" It's his second post on the election on Bajothang, where his is also a nominee.

Another Student Blogger, Chidanand blogs in his "Teenager+":

One of the best event in the history of bajothang higher secondary school. Election of captains for next year from the nominates made by the class teacher and subject teacher of class 11 Sci and Commerce. It was sometimes ago when the nominates were asked to come and take the photo so that it will be pasted in the electronic voting machine. Though the same event was held some years ago there was no such facilities like electronic voting machine. Rather students were asked to raise their hand and from their captains were elected.

Deepan Tamang, another student blogger finds the event as:

This is my 4^th year studying in Bajothang higher secondary school. There are some changes that I have observed. Most of the changes are minor. This is the major change that I have observed and is one of the best. ( in his blog "The Real World")

Sonam in his blog "Trending BajoWide"  wrote:

Bajothang higher secondary school conducted election for captains for next year. Nominee are from class elevens where there were 18 boys and 13 girls. Students were briefed in the morning and around 12 pm students lead by 12 to 7 started casting their votes to the most deserving and capable candidate. It took around 3 hours for the completion. This is the first time conducting such a program for selection of captains. The school conducted such a program in order to not to have any problems in future regarding the selection of captains. Thanks to democracy club and Bajothang higher secondary school.

Read More

School Clarifies on CE Complaint Letter on Public Forum

It has come to school's notice that certain 'Memehele, undoubtedly our own CE Arts student coming from Punakha, has posted 4 points complaint letter on Kuensel Forum. It's totally unexpected and sad to see that the student despite having clear understanding of the CE policy in school and the problems faced by the school in keeping the program going, chose to defame the school in public. School though not mandated to pay any attention to such baseless allegations would still like to provide detailed explanation so that it doesn't mislead the concerned stakeholders.

Following is the complain copied from Kuensel Forum"

I have many questions regarding the CE programmes in Bajo HSS.1. Is there any directive from MoE to collect extra Nu. 5000 as the security deposit. Where will this amount go if I happened to miss the examination due unavoidable circumstances.2. Is there any directive from MoE to collect the fee in lump sum.3. Are the CE tutors competent enough to teach all the classes. School Counselor was made to teach XII Arts where he is not allowed to teach.4. History was taught by as many as 3 teachers. Many repeaters of 2011 and 2012 are enrolled and this causes a nuisance to the genuine CE candidates.So I would suggest the concern Authority to provide a quality qualitative education than making money.Or make Punakha HSS or Ugyen Academy to introduce it. This will improve the quality of CE programme in Wangdue- Punakha valley.It is evident from the above that CE in Bajo is just doing for name sake. It seems there is no planning and coordination. Some times tutors never turn up on time. and have to go back without classes after commuting as far as Punakha and Lobesa.

Continuing Education(CE) Program in Bajothang has been a big success for over three year, with many civil servants and school dropouts finally grasping their second chance to Education. Many of them have done very well and are now in colleges across the country and abroad. Inspired by the Changes we brought to the lives of so many people, school tried to keep the program going despite huge implications on school facilities and human resources that goes in it. If Bajothang is proud of CE program it's only because of the positive feedback from our ex CE students.

But this year we are saddened by letter an adult student wrote on public forum questioning the integrity of the school and the people involved in it. We would like to provide the following explanation, though it should have been understood without having to say;

1. The Nu.5000 security deposit is introduced this year to counter the huge number of CE students dropping out of exam at the end of the year. This had direct implication on the school's overall result because CE students are treated as our students by BCSEA and absentees are calculated as 'fail' against the school's name. However, the money is refundable and will be promptly given back on the last day of the exam. School will also consider the genuine cases of students dropping out due to unavoidable circumstances. 

2. The Fee is collected in lump sum to ensure that students are committed to full year schooling and to avoid dropout cases in the middle, which the school has bitter experience. School is still waiting for many students who dropped out last year to return their textbook. The solutions for problem the school faces will not come from elsewhere.

3. Because school doesn't have Arts stream with its regular students we do not have enough teachers to teach arts subjects. School therefore decided to do away with Arts stream in CE as well but many CE students came forward to request the school to retain the stream. School hired history teacher from Punakha to solve the problem but because of his health he had to withdraw, after which school requested the school counselor. He is a very experienced teacher and had been teacher from seven years before becoming school counselor. 

4. As much as the writer of the complaint letter considers him/herself as genuine CE students the rest of the students who are repeating are genuine too. They also want to continue their education and school has admitted them based on the admission rules. Such selfishness makes the whole purpose of coming to school useless.

CE program is not a money making business at all, with an annual fee of just Nu.10,000 it's the biggest opportunity to education, when elsewhere in private schools the fee is not less than Nu.50,000. The program is one big extra responsibility taken by Bajothang HSS, and given the chance school would happily give it up for any school wishing to take up. It's not compulsory for any teacher to teach CE classes but school administration requested to work for this great cause, given the chance many teachers would choose family time and rest over the money they get from the program.

Read More

Alumni List Updated

Dr. Sangay Dorji, MO, Mongar

We are pleased to release the updated list of our Alumni today. The school lost all its documents in 2011 Fire and since then we were trying to gather lots of information, of which Alumni List is considered one very important project. We are proud to see good response on our website's Alumni Tracking form. And Very happy to see so many of you doing great in Life!

Full List can be viewed >>Here>>



Following are the new entries:

Name	Year of graduation	Current Occupation	Address	Dzongkhag
Gyembo	2008	Staff Nurse	Monggar	Monggar
Dr. Yoenten Phuentshok	2005	Veterinarian	Thimphu	Thimphu
Dr Sangay Dorji	2001	medical officer	Eastern Regional Referral Hospital	Monggar
Gopal Prasad Khanal	2006	Livestock Production Officer	National Centre for Aquaculture,	Sarpang
Thinley Wangchuk	2008	Forestery	Wangdue	Wangdue
Sonam Phuntsho	2007	Engineer	DHI-INFRA Limited	Thimphu
Sanjit Kumar	2010	B.E Civil Engineering (student)	CST	Chukha
Sonam Dorji	2009	RIM trainee (DIMS) & Guide	Semtokha	Thimphu
Nado	2005	Engineer (Electrical)	Mangdechhu HE project Authority	Trongsa
Lhapchu	2004	Engineer	Bajo	Wangdue
Sonam Choki	2004	lawyer	Office of the Prime Minister/ Cabinet	Thimphu
Rattu	2006	Teacher	Tsirangtoe LSS	Tsirang
Ganga Ram Giri	2006	Engineer	Punatshangchu	Wangdue
Parasha Bhandari	2006	Asst. Branch Manager	BDBL, Bumthang	Bumthang
Tilachand Timsina	2006	Architect	MoWHS,DHS,UPDD	Thimphu
Jamtsho	2008	BCom (Finance) at GCBS	Geaddu	Chukha
Manoj Kumar Rai	2004	Operations Lead at Google / Google Consultant for Bhutan	Thimphu	Thimphu
Rohit Gajmer	2006	ICT Officer / Trainer	IMS	Thimphu
Kamala Subba	2009	Contract surveyor	Thimphu City	Thimphu
Sunil Lama	2008	BE CIVIL ENGINEER (std)	Tamil Nadu	India
Sonam Yangdon	2011	Journalism (std)	India	India

Read More