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

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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. 

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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)

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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. 

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