Update: Day 18

Today we visited the private Druk School after having arrived from Tashidingkha Middle Secondary School only one day earlier. We were told that it may not be as exciting or as great of an experience as the one we had in Phunaka due to the fact that the kids were younger than us. The visit, however, was quite incredible.

Beginning from the moment we were let in through the school gate by security, we noticed that this day would be nothing like any of the days we had spent in Tashidingka. Students were running around outside, able to do as they pleased with the time they had before any of their actual classes. The school building itself was inviting as well, painted in bright colors with large and open doors. Behind the main building was an artificial-grass soccer field where students were students were playing various sports. The campus was charming and, to an extent, reminded us of what school was like when we were children, opposed to the strictness of Tashidingkha. 

We met with the principal who led us into the school for a quick tour. Some students were already in their respective classes, joking around with one another before the teacher came to class. What struck me was that some students were not wearing their traditional garb, which was required at Tashidingkha, but were instead wearing school sweatsuits which were allowed only on days when students had physical education. Passing through the hallways, we stopped by at the various science labs the school had to offer. Not to our surprise, as the rest of the school was advanced, the lab rooms were very nice. We felt as if we were shot two-hundred years into the future from Tashidingkha. Everything with Druk School was on par with our school had to offer apart from the blackboards. 

The tour concluded with visits to classrooms. We split into two groups of three: one group went to grade 9, the other to grade 10. Here we sat in on the classes, observing and then afterwards talking to the students. The most obvious difference between the two schools we visited, is that students in Druk were far more confident and had much more developed English speaking skills. The entirety of the class would pay attention to the teacher speaking and ask or answer questions. It was easy to tell that these kids were slightly more knowledgable than Tashidingkha students. What was most important was that the students were happy in their classes. They were engaged and not afraid to speak up due to the fact that teacher in Druk were much less strict and often said a joke to keep kids focused rather than drone on and lose the attention of the students. It is obvious that because of the environment they are provided with, all the resources that they have, teachers and students at Druk School are able to work much more efficiently and in the end acquire more knowledge. All of this makes school enjoyable for the kids and in the end they learn more than students in schools like Tashidingka where methods of educating are very old fashioned. Students in those rural schools are more or less aware of the world modernizing, moving forward with education, yet they are stuck in what is considered the old, longing for the new. Our day at Druk school was successful as we were able to compare and contrast two different systems of education available in Bhutan and the way that kids think. We will be presenting what we learned to members of the REC later in the week.