Think. Eat. Save.- World Environment Day Speech by Bir Bdr.

June 5, 2013, School Assembly Square:

Our environment is the future of our world. If it is not healthy, then we cannot think of taking a breath of peace.

·         Objectives of the world environment day celebration :

Bir Bahadhur of class 12 Sci, Nature Club 

World environment day is the main weapon of the United Nation to make people aware of the worldwide environmental demolition and drag attention and action of various political sources and human resource.

·         How would environment day be Celebrated ?

World environment day is celebrated each year through various means like:

ü  Green concerts.

ü  Essay and poster competitions in school.

ü  Tree planting.

ü  Clean-up campaign and much more.

In line with this we the Family of Bajo Higher Secondary School are going to carry out a cleaning campaign in and around the Bajo town with the concept of 3R’s.

Today is celebrated as world environment day and is a day that stimulates awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and public action. It is an annual event that is aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action.

June 5^th was the day that United Nations conference on the human environment began in 1972. The United Nation Conference on the Human Environment was from 5^th until 16^th June 1972. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in the same year.

The first world environment day was celebrated in 1973. World environment day is hosted every year and is commemorated with an international exposition in the week of 5^th June.

A green economic is one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological green economy is the economic development model based on sustainable development and a knowledge of ecological economics.

Think. Eat . Save is an anti-food waste and food loss campaign that encourages you to reduce your footprint.

According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted.This is equivalent to the same amount produce in the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time ,one in every seven people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 childrens  under the age of 5 die daily from hunger.

Given this enormous imbalance in lifestyle’s and the resultant devastating effects on the  environment, this year’s  theme-Think .Eat.Save -encourages you to become more aware of the environmental impact of the food choices you make and empowers you to make informed decisions.

While the planet is struggling to provide us with enough resources to sustain the well beings of the people, Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that a third of global food production is either wasted or lost. Food waste is an enormous drain on natural resources and a contributor to negative environmental   impacts.

Similar to this highlight, in our school we see many people wasting their food and throwing anywhere which ultimately litters the beautiful scenario of our school. The best thing would be to bring packed lunch that you can eat at once, whereby no left over means you are being faithful to adopt the litter free principle.

This year’s campaign rallies you to take action from your home and then witness the power of collective decisions you and others have made to reduce food waste, save money, minimise the environmental impact of food production and force food production processes to become more efficient.

If food is wasted, it means that all the resources and inputs used in the production of all the food are also lost.

Making informed decisions therefore means, for example, that you purposefully select foods that have less of an environment impact, such as organic foods that do not use chemicals in the production process. Choosing to buy locally can also mean that foods are not thrown half way across the world and therefore limit emissions.

Lastly but not the least we hope that you all will join hands with us in taking mass and collective measure towards the safe and green world. So Think before you Eat and help Save our environment!

Thank you one and all for your kind attention.

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21 Gold for Team Bajothang

The team Bajothang led by Lop Tshering Gyeltshen and Ms. Sangay Lhaden that represented our school in Secondary Schools Sports Meet in Gaselo did us proud with 21 Gold, 9 Silver and 8 Bronze in Track and Field Events. They also brought home  Boys Winners Football Cupand Girls Basketball Runners Up Cup.

The Golden Team

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Sherig Collection in Bajothang Book Fair

From: Thimphutech.com

We just returned from two days at the Bajothang HSS book fair, where we displayed and distributed the Rigsum Sherig Collection to many schools outside of Thimphu: School principals, librarians, teachers and staff from eight Dzongkhags visited the Rigsum Sherig Collection tent (Dagana, Gasa, Paro, Punakha, Thimphu, Trongsa, Tsirang, and Wangdue).

Teacher from remote Lungtengang PS downloads the collection

Lots of interest from principals, teachers, and students

Teachers were eager to gain access to quality offline learning resources. Many have told us that the Internet connection at their school was more in theory than in practice (we learned that 3am-6am was the only time to attempt sending an email). Other schools were so remote that even mobile reception was insufficient. For teachers and students in such schools, the Sherig Collection was perceived as a life-changer. At last, teachers and students will have access to encyclopedias that do not cost a fortune and do not need to be kept locked behind glass doors. Khan Academy videos in maths and sciences will provide teachers with new ways of teaching existing materials, and for students, ways to strengthen their knowledge and expand it, while keeping their curiosity healthy.

Nearly all schools that visited our tent reported having computers for students to access. A few schools have only 1-2 computers for students, whereas many others have a computer lab. School computers range from old models to newer ones, from those with Windows XP to those with Windows 7. Some visitors were surprised to learn that the Sherig Collection will work on even old computers running Windows XP.

Many of the teachers and principals who visited had an external hard-drive or a laptop with them. They were therefore able to copy the Sherig Collection (approximately 25 min), and take it back to their schools.

Gasa PS principal (left) and Bajo HSS IT teacher (middle)

An additional benefit is that these Sherig-Collection-holding-schools now serve as contact points for nearby schools. For example, the principal of Gasa Primary School, Mr. Pema Dorji, will be distributing the software to all four schools in Gasa. Mr. Passang Tshering at Bajothang HSS has been distributing the Sherig Collection to many schools in the Wangdue-Punakha area, as well as assisting fellow teachers with ideas and tips about using the collection.

Our display was also visited by several officers from the Ministry of Education's Department of Curriculum Research and Development. They too now have the collection and will serve as a distribution point for schools in Paro. Executive director of the Bhutan Canada Foundation along with a Canadian teacher have expressed much interest - we hope that they can help spread the collection to schools with BCF teachers.

The Sherig Collection can be used in many ways. Students can be instructed to conduct research on a particular topic during the weekly IT session. A staff room computer can help teachers improve their lesson plans. One of the early adopting teachers of the Sherig Collection shared that he uses a projector to show students a Khan Academy video during class.

DCRD Director getting a tour of the Sherig Collection

It was a busy two days, with plenty of visitors, demos, downloading, and interactions. We have also collected wish lists for further improving the collection.

Educators who missed the Bajo fair and the earlier information session in Thimphu are welcome to visit us at the Rigsum Research Lab and obtain the collection.

The Facebook group, intended for sharing information and experiences, already has over 100 members, including teachers, principals and other education/knowledge seekers. The group is fairly active and we invite teachers, librarians, principals, curriculum developers and anyone interested in getting their school or organization on board.

We extend our many thanks to Bajo teacher Mr. Passang Tshering for organizing the Sherig tent and for the wonderful hospitality.

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School Marathon 2013

School Annual Marathon is held today, with over 160 students taking part in the race. Senior Boys ran 16 km- from school ground to Khuruthang and back to school ground while junior boys and senior girls ran 10 km- from school ground to Samthang and back to school ground. Junior girl ran 8 km.
Following are the runner who made it to the victory stand in the four different categories:

Junior Girls

Senior Girls

Junior Boys

Senior Boys

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Sherig Collection in Bajothang

Bajothang eLearning Club is a new club founded by school computer teacher, Passang Tshering with 18 student members. The club aims to explore way to bring eLearning concept to school and build eLearning resources. The vision and action plan of the club could be read on their blog.
The new club, though with smart concept, was fighting endless limitations. Coincidentally, Rigsum invited the club master to attend the introductory presentation and demo of Sherig Collection in Thimphu, which was a blessing to the new club.
Read about the Sherig Collection in the following page from Kuensel, which also contain words of the school club master.

Kuensel Page

The whole collection is with the eLearning Club and could be easily shared with any school or individual during the school hours. While our own students and teachers wishing to avail the resources can visit the computer lab where at least 10 computers are equipped with the collection as of today.
The club plans to set up Wiki Booths in library and WiFi Park to make the resources easily accessible by the students.

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