Vision “….an educated and enlightened society of ‘gyalyong gakid pelzom’ at peace with itself, at peace with the world, built and sustained by the idealism and the creative enterprise of our citizens”. Mission of the Ministry of Education 1. To formulate sound policies governing all levels of learning to guide the educational destiny of the nation as it aspires to become a knowledge society worthy of our vision and our heritage, both as a means as well as an end; 2. To build a broadly liberal, culturally sensitive, forward-looking, standard based education system that combines the best of received wisdom of successive generations and the results of innovation and enterprise in the diverse fields of human endeavour; 3. To create the necessary learning space and opportunities to engage the genius and potentials of all the children and youth of the country in keeping with provisions of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan, and to realize our pledge of green schools for green Bhutan; 4. To prepare our young men and women with the right values and skills, usefulness and grace- fulness, to meet the ever-growing needs of a developing country against the backdrop of a fast globalizing world; 5. To build a cadre of highly motivated and competent educators who are endowed with an abiding love of children, a deep love of learning, and who passionately value education as a positive instrument of empowerment; 6. To promote a system of continuous and life-long learning though formal, non-formal as well as informal modes to enable our citizens to participate meaningfully and constructively in the life of the society; 7. To enable the participation of private individuals and institutions -both from within Bhutan and beyond- to build model seats of learning and to inspire excellence
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Vision“….an educated and enlightened society of ‘gyalyong gakid
pelzom’ at peace with itself, at peace with the world, built
and sustained by the idealism and the creative enterprise of our
citizens”.
Mission of the Ministry of Education1. To formulate sound policies governing all levels of learning to guide the educational destiny
of the nation as it aspires to become a knowledge society worthy of our vision and our heritage,
both as a means as well as an end;
2. To build a broadly liberal, culturally sensitive, forward-looking, standard based education
system that combines the best of received wisdom of successive generations and the results of
innovation and enterprise in the diverse fields of human endeavour;
3. To create the necessary learning space and opportunities to engage the genius and potentials
of all the children and youth of the country in keeping with provisions of the Constitution of
the Kingdom of Bhutan, and to realize our pledge of green schools for green Bhutan;
4. To prepare our young men and women with the right values and skills, usefulness and grace-
fulness, to meet the ever-growing needs of a developing country against the backdrop of a fast
globalizing world;
5. To build a cadre of highly motivated and competent educators who are endowed with an
abiding love of children, a deep love of learning, and who passionately value education as a
positive instrument of empowerment;
6. To promote a system of continuous and life-long learning though formal, non-formal as well
as informal modes to enable our citizens to participate meaningfully and constructively in the
life of the society;
7. To enable the participation of private individuals and institutions -both from within Bhutan
and beyond- to build model seats of learning and to inspire excellence
Annual Education Statistics Page III
ANNUAL EDUCATION STATISTICS, 2012
Published by:
Policy and Planning Division Ministry of Education Royal Government of Bhutan
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior permission from the Policy and Planning Division, Ministry of Education.
First Edition : 1988
Twenty fourth Edition : 2012
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Hon’ble Secretary and the Management Committee of the MoE for their valuable inputs in improving the Annual Education Statistics report.
The Policy and Planning Division, MoE is greatly indebted to the National Statistics Bureau, MoLHR, MoF, RUB, MoA, Dratshang Lhentshog, WFP and also the Departments and Divisions within the Ministry, for their support in bringing out this report. This support has enabled the publication of increasingly more relevant, accurate and timely information on education in Bhutan.
We would like to thank all the Principals and teachers of the schools, who were the main contributors providing the required school data, and the Dzongkhag Education Officers, who helped to ensure that the data provided were accurate and timely.
Lastly we would like to congratulate and thank our ICT team for enabling the automation of education statistics through the Education Management Information System which has become fully functional. We hope that the institution of the EMIS and new system of reporting information will make it easier and more convenient for all stakeholders and especially the schools who are ultimately responsible for ensuring that accurate and timely data is reported.
We also solicit our readers’ valuable comments and suggestions to help improve our AES in the future.
Policy and Planning Division Ministry of Education Thimphu, Bhutan
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TABLE OF CONTENTSACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................... III TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. IV-VI LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... VII LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... VIII-IX ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS AND GLOSSARY ......................................................X-XII SUMMARY OF EDUCATION STATISTICS 2012 ..........................................................1
Figure 1a: Summary of schools, institutes and centres ..........................................1 Figure 1b: Summary of students, learners, trainees and novitiates .......................2 Figure 1c: Summary of teachers, lecturers, instructors, trainers & caregivers.......3 AT A GLANCE ........................................................................................................ 4-5 Table I: Education Indicators at a glance ................................................................6 Table II: EFA Indicators ...........................................................................................6-7 Table III: MDG Indicators .......................................................................................7 Table IV: OTHER Indicators .....................................................................................7-8
Figure IIIa: Number of schools and ECRs by dzongkhag and level .........................8 Figure IIIb: Number of private schools by dzongkhag and level ............................9 Figure IIIc: Number of students by dzongkhag and level .......................................9
1. OVERVIEW OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM ....................................................... 13-18
1.1. The modern education system ........................................................................13 1.1.1. General education structure ...............................................................15 1.1.2. Schools in General Education ..............................................................16 1.3 General Education Curriculum .........................................................................16 1.4 Education Administration .................................................................................18
2. PRE-PRIMARY AND PRIMARY EDUCATION .................................................... 19-30 2.1. Early Childhood Care and Development .........................................................19 2.2. Extended Classrooms ...................................................................................... 20 2.3. Pre-Primary and Primary Education ................................................................21 2.4. Primary Net and Gross Enrolment Ratio (GPER and NPER ..............................24 2.4.1. Net Attendance Ratio ..........................................................................25 2.4.2. Adjusted Net primary enrolment Ratio (ANPER ..................................28
7. SPECIAL EDUCATION ...................................................................................... 43-44 7.1 Special Education ............................................................................................. 43
8. GIRLS ENROLMENT ......................................................................................... 45-50 8.1 Current Situation of Girls participation in education .......................................45 8.2 Girls participation in education by Dzongkhags ...............................................47 8.3. Girls’ enrolment in HSS and tertiary education ...............................................49 8.4. Gender Parity Index .......................................................................................50
9. TEACHERS ....................................................................................................... 51-55 9.1 Teacher strength .............................................................................................. 51 9.1.1 Proportion of Non-Bhutanese Teachers ...............................................52 9.2 Teacher education ............................................................................................ 52 9.2.1 Pre-service training ..............................................................................52 9.2.2 In-Service training ................................................................................53 9.3 Academic profile of teachers ...........................................................................55
10.1 Student-Teacher Ratio ....................................................................................56 10.2 Class size ........................................................................................................ 61
11. EXAMINATION RESULTS AND EFFICIENCY INDICATORS .............................. 63-70 11.1 Efficiency Indicators .......................................................................................63 11.1.1 Promotees, Repeaters and Drop-outs ................................................63 11.1.2 Fast Track promotion of over-aged students......................................66 11.2 Completion rate ............................................................................................. 67 11.3 Trend in Survival rates ....................................................................................68 11.4 Internal efficiency measures ..........................................................................68 11.5 Examination Results .......................................................................................71 11.5.1 Class X Examination ...........................................................................71 11.5.2 Class XII Examination .........................................................................72
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12. SCHOOL FEEDING ................................................................................73-74 12.1 School Feeding Programme ...........................................................................73
13. EDUCATION FACILITIES .................................................................................. 74-81 13.1 The Water facilities in Schools .......................................................................74 13.2 Provision of classrooms, laboratories and computers in schools ...................76 13.2.1. Laboratories in schools .....................................................................77 13.2.2. Computers in schools ........................................................................78 13.3 Electricity, telephone and internet connectivity ..........................................79 13.4 Road accessibility ........................................................................................80
14. BUDGETS AND EXPENDITURES ON EDUCATION ........................................... 82-89 14.1 Free services and sharing of costs ................................................................82 14.2 Annual budget............................................................................................... 82 14.3 Per head costs ............................................................................................... 88
Figure 11.5 Primary and basic completion rates since 2006 ................................................ 67
Figure 11.6 Survival to the grade V and X ............................................................................ 68
Figure 11.7 Class X passed trend since 2000 ........................................................................ 71
Figure 11.8 Class X detailed result ........................................................................................ 72
Figure 11.9 Class XII passes trend since 2002 ....................................................................... 72
Figure 13.1 Total student per class ....................................................................................... 77
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Table 2.1 Gross or Apparent Intake Ratio (AIR) 2006-2012 ......................................................... 21 Table 2.2 New admissions in PP 2002-2012 ................................................................................ 23 Table 2.3: Enrolment in Primary Education, 2002-2012 .............................................................. 23 Table 2.4 Primary enrolment by age ............................................................................................ 24 Table 2.5 Enrolment Ratios since 2006 ........................................................................................ 24 Table 2.6 Net attendance ratio by Dzongkhag, BMIS 2010 .......................................................... 26 Table 3.1 Enrolment in class VII-X since 2002 .............................................................................. 31 Table 3.2 NER and GER for Higher Secondary Schools ................................................................ 33 Table 3.3 Transition rates ............................................................................................................. 33 Table 4.1 Staff and students in Vocational Training Institutes academic year 2011 .................... 35 Table 4.2 Staff and Students in the Royal University of Bhutan academic year 2011.................. 36 Table 4.3 Bhutanese Undergraduate students abroad with RGOB Scholarships, 2012 ............... 37 Table 4.4 Bhutanese privately funded Tertiary Education students abroad, 2012 ...................... 37 Table 5.1 Number of NFE centres and Enrolments as of March 2012 ......................................... 39 Table 5.2 Enrolment in Continuing Education, March 2012 ........................................................ 40 Table 5.3 Enrolment in Continuing Education since 2006 ........................................................... 40Table 6.1 Enrolment in monastic schools, 2011 .......................................................................... 42 Table 7.1 Enrolment in Special Education Institute, March 2012 ................................................ 44 Table 8.1 Percentage-wise girls enrolment per level and type of school, March 2012 ............... 45 Table 8.2 Girls’ enrolment by type/level of school, March 2012 ................................................. 47 Table 8.3 Girl’s enrolment by category and Dzongkhag, March 2012 ......................................... 48 Table 8.4 Girls’ enrolment in class X and class XI public and private schools 2003- 2012 ........... 49 Table 9.1 Teacher strength March 2012 ...................................................................................... 51 Table 9.2 Enrolment in the Colleges of Education 2004-2012 ..................................................... 53 Table 9.3 Number of teachers who have been awarded with various Degrees 2010 ................. 54 Table 9.4 In-service Workshops ................................................................................................... 54 Table 9.5 Number of Teachers who have upgraded their Qualification ..................................... 54 Table 9.6 Teacher graduate with various degrees and qualifications, 2004-2012 ...................... 55 Table 9.7 Number of trained teachers by degree, March 2012 ................................................... 55 Table 10.1 Student Teacher ratio in schools per location March 2012 ........................................ 56 Table 10.2 Number of schools with different STR by different level ............................................ 58 Table 10.3 Target T: P ratio reached per Dzongkhag, March 2012 .............................................. 59 Table 10.4 Student-Teacher Ratio in Schools per Dzongkhag 2008-2010 .................................... 60 Table 10.5 Class size per location per school, March 2012.......................................................... 61 Table 10.6 Schools by Average Class size per Dzongkhag, March 2012 ....................................... 62Table 11.1 Survivors to the grade 2005-2011 ............................................................................. 69Table 11.2 Coefficient of the internal efficiency in basic education ........................................... 70Table 12.1 School feeding in 2012 ............................................................................................... 74Table 12.2 Number of schools offering Day feeding and boarding facillities by level ..........74 Table 13.1 Water facillities in the schools, March 2012 .............................................................. 75
LIST OF TABLES Table 13.2: Student-tap ratio by Dzongkhag for schools with tap stands, March 2012 ............... 76 Table 13.3 Laboratory by level of school, public schools, March 2012........................................ 77 Table 13.4 Computers in the schools, March 2012 ..................................................................... 78 Table 13.5: Electricity connectivity, per level, March 2012 ......................................................... 79 Table 13.6: Schools with working landline phone, per category, March 2012 ............................ 79Table 13.7: Internet connectivity per level, March 2012 ............................................................. 80Table 13.8: Road accessibility by dzongkhag, March 2012 .......................................................... 81 Table 14.1(a). Top 5 Utilizers of Budget ....................................................................................... 83 Table 14.1(b). Top 5 under Utilizers of Budget ............................................................................ 83Table 14.1(c) Education revised budget and expenditure (FY 11-12) by dzongkhag...............84-87 Table 14.2: Estimated cost per student, May 2011 ..................................................................... 88Additional Statistical Tables .................................................................................................. 89Table A1.1 Enrolment per Dzongkhag per type of School 2012 .................................................. 90 Table A1.2 Enrolment growth rate per Dzongkhag per level 2011-2012 ..................................... 91Table A1.3 Total enrolment by Dzongkhag by gender ................................................................ 91Table A1.4 Enrolment in Class XI and XII, 2011-2012 .................................................................. 92Table A1.5 Enrolment in class XI-XII per stream, 2012 ................................................................ 92 Table A2.1 Public and Private Schools per Dzongkhag 2012 ....................................................... 93Table A2.2 Electricity, Phone and internet connectivity by dzongkhag ....................................... 93Table A3.1 Public and Private Teachers per Dzongkhag 2012 ...................................................... 94 Table A3.2 STR per school type per Dzongkhag,2012.................................................................. 94Table A3.3 Proportion of Non-Bhutanese teachers 2002-2012 ................................................... 95Table A3.4 Teachers qualification in public and private school, March 2012 .............................. 95Table A3.5 Numbers of teachers by academic qualification, March 2012 ................................... 95Table A4.1 Student-Teachers Ratio in Schools per Dzongkhag 2009-2012 .................................. 96Table A4.2 Promotion, Repeater and Dropout rates, 2002-2012 ............................................... 96 Table A4.3 Dropout rates, 2003-2012 ........................................................................................ 97 Table A4.4 Repetition rates, 2003-2012 .................................................................................... 97 Table A4.5 Class X results , 2011 .................................................................................................. 97 Table A4.6 Class XII results , 2011 ................................................................................................ 98 Table A4.7 Survival rate to grade 5 and 10, 2006-2011 ............................................................... 98 Table A4.8 Pre-Primary enrolment by Age .................................................................................. 98 Table A4.9 Details on the 6-12 years old children since 2009 ..................................................... 98Table A4.10 Completion Rate for Primary and Basic education .................................................. 99Table A4.11 Right age, underage and overage details by class 2012 ........................................... 99 Table A4.12 Age specific enrolment details ................................................................................ 100Table A5.1 Enrolment of girls in primary and secondary education ............................................ 101Table A5.2 Growth in girls enrolment in public secondary schools (VII-XII ................................101Schools established in 2012 .................................................................................................104chools Upgraded in 2012 ......................................................................................................104Schools Downgraded in 2012 ...............................................................................................104
Annual Education Statistics Annual Education StatisticsPage X Page XI
ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS AND GLOSSARY
Acronyms
AES Annual Education Statistics AFD Administrative and Finance Division AIR Apparent Intake Ratio ASCF Annual School Census Form BBE Bhutan Board of Examinations BCSE Bhutan Certificate for Secondary Education BCSEA Bhutan Council for School Examination and Assessment B.Ed Bachelor of Education B.Ed (D) Bachelor of Education (Dzongkha) B.Ed (P) Bachelor of Education (Primary) B.Ed (S) Bachelor of Education (Secondary) BHSEC Bhutan Higher Secondary Education Certificate BLC Basic Literacy Course CAPSD Curriculum and Professional Support Services Division CE Continuing Education CECD Career Education and Counseling Division CoE College of Education CPS Community Primary School DAHE Department of Adult and Higher Education DCRD Department of Curriculum Research and Development DDA Dzongkha Development Authority DEO Dzongkhag Education Officer DPP Dzongkhag Population Projection 2006-2015 DSE Department of School Education DYS Department of Youth and Sports ECCD Early Childhood Care and Development Division ECR Extended Classroom EFA Education For All EM Education Media EMSSD Education Monitoring & Support Service Division FYP Five Year Plan GBER Gross Basic Enrolment Ratio GER Gross Enrolment Ratio GES Geog Education Services GIR Gross Intake Ratio
GoI Government of India GER Gross Enrolment Ratio GPER Gross Primary Enrolment Ratio GPI Gender Parity Index GSD Games and Sports Division HRD Human Resource Division HSS Higher Secondary School IA Internal Audit ICSE Indian Certificate for Secondary Education ISE Indian Secondary Examination Certificate LSS Lower Secondary School MDG Millennium Development Goal M.Ed Masters in Education MoE Ministry of Education MoF Ministry of Finance MoLHR Ministry of Labour and Human Resource MSS Middle Secondary School NBER Net Basic Enrolment Ratio NER Net Enrolment Ratio NFCED Non Formal and Continuing Education Division NFE Non-Formal Education NGO Non-Governmental Organization NIVI National Institute for Visually Impaired NIZC National Institute of Zorig Chusum NIR Net Intake Ratio NPER Net Primary Enrolment Ratio NSB National Statistics Bureau NWAB National Women’s Association of Bhutan PCR Primary Completion Rate PGCE Post Graduate Certificate in Education PGDE Post Graduate Diploma in Education PHCB Population and Housing Census of Bhutan PLC Post Learning Course PP Pre-Primary PPD Policy and Planning Division PS Primary School PTC Primary Teaching Certificate PTR Pupil Teacher Ratio
Annual Education Statistics Annual Education StatisticsPage XII Page 1
RCS Resource Centre Services RGoB Royal Government of Bhutan RUB Royal University of Bhutan SCD Scouts and Culture Division SD Scholarship Division SDG SAARC Development Goals SLCD School Liaison and Coordination Division SLD School Library Development SPBD School Planning and Building Division SPS School Procurement Services STR Student-Teacher Ratio TIZC Trashiyangtse Institute of Zorig Chusum UPE Universal Primary Education VTI Vocational Training Institute WFP World Food Programme YC Youth Centre YIC Youth Information Centre ZDS Zhungkha Development Services ZLT Zhungkha Language Teachers ZTC Zhungkha Teaching Certificate
Abbreviation
Ave Average
Bht Bhutanese
Enrol. Enrolment
GR Growth Rate
NBht Non-Bhutanese
No. Numbers
Mgt Management
N/Bht Non-Bhutanese
Nu. Ngultrum
Pvt Private
Std Student
T:P Teacher Pupil Ratio
Voc. Vocational
Figure Ia: Summary of Schools, Institutes and Centres
Type of Schools and Institutes Government Private Total
* Private ECCD inclusive of ECCD under NGO, private & Work place ** Special Institutes (6 of these schools are included in the schools under B above).~ Including NIVI only, excludes Special Education institute under the school since its a part of school*** This doesnot include ECR and continuing education centre since they are part of the parent school. *** *source: Non formal and Continuing Education Division, DAHE
SUMMARY OF
EDUCATION
STATISTICS 2012
Glossary Dzongkhag District Dratshang Monk body Lhakhang Temple Dungkhag Sub-District Dzongdag Head of District Administration Gewog Block
H Non-Formal Centres 3,882 9,478 13,360 - 3,882 9,478 13,360
I Sanskrit Patshala 5 2 7 - 5 2 7
GRAND TOTAL 99,818 96,628 196,446 13,496 8,117 21,613 113,314 104,745 218,059
* The data is based on informal estimates of students studying in India. The number could actually be higher. ** All special needs children enrolled in special institute as well as in formal school *** Private Tertiary enrolment in Royal Thimphu College **** The monastic enrolment reflected under public is from 2011, the enrolment reflected under private is from 2004
Figure Ic: Summary of Teachers, Lecturers, Instructors, Trainers & Caregivers
Government Private Total
Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total
Total population (in 000)* 719 Education expenditure as % of government expenditure, (2010/2011) ** 15.8
Population 0-14 years (%)* 29 Education Expenditure as % of GDP (2010/2011)** 6.9
Annual Population Growth Rate (2010)* 1.91 EFA Development Index (EDI) 0.850
Annual GDP Growth rate 0.1 Adult Literacy Rate 52.8
GDP per capita in Nu, (2011)** 128,946.5 Female Teachers (%) at primary level 35
GDP (million Nu), (2010/2011)** 76241.3 Unemployment rate~~ 3.1
Human Development Index (HDI) 0.522 Children of primary school-age who are out-of-school (%) 2.0
Access to safe drinking water 2010**** 88.0 Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) at tertiary level 11
Life Expectancy at Birth (years) (2010)* 69 Literacy Rate, 2005~ 59.5
* Source: Population Projections Bhutan 2005-2030 ** Source: Ministry of Finance *** Source: Human Development Report 2011 **** Source: Annual Health Bulletin, 2011 ~ Source: Socio-Economic and Demographic Indicators 2005 ~~Source: Labour Force Survey, 2011, MoLHR
AT A GLANCEFigure II: Fact Sheet: Bhutan: Some Education Indicators 2012
84
102
10096
118
020406080
100120
GER(PP)
GPI on NER
Survival tograde 5NER, Primary
GER, Primary
Figure III: Growth in the number of schools and enrolment 2002-2012
Figure IV: NER trend since 1990
46
4950 50 50
44
4748
50
52
40
42
44
46
48
50
52
54
1999 2005 2008 2011 2012% of girls in Primary % of girls in Secondary
GoAls, tArGEts And IndIcAtors 1990 2000 2004 2007 2009 2010 2011 2012 2015State of Prog-ress
Goal 2: ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION Target 3: Ensure by 2015 children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling
Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 7 (%) 35 % 81 % 86 % 85.4% 89.9% 86.9% 93% 98% 100 % On track
GOAL 3: PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and to all levels of education by 2015Ratio of girls to boys in primary schools (%)
The Policy and Planning Division (PPD) collects data on school enrolment and other information from the schools, and other agencies every year in order to ensure that all relevant stakeholders have access to good quality information on the education sector. The information collected is compiled in the form of this report which provides summarized information on general school-based, non-formal, continuing, vocational, tertiary and monastic education within Bhutan and to some extent information on Bhutanese students studying outside Bhutan. In addition to information on the academic year 2012, some historical comparisons are also made.
The report aims to help stakeholders in planning, monitoring and evaluating education sector programmes, and to make informed decisions. At the same time, it provides data required for monitoring progress towards the MDGs, SDGs, and other international goals and targets which the country is party to. It is hoped that the findings will serve as a basis for equity-based pro-gramming, as well as contribute towards sound policy analysis and planning and also serve as a pointer to a whole spectrum of studies and surveys on the Bhutanese education system.
DATA COLLECTION The “EMIS data collection tool”, a digitized version of the “Annual School Census Forms” - (ASCF) built in excel is used to collect the data for preparing this report. The tools are distributed to all the schools and extended classrooms through the Dzongkhag Education Offices at the beginning of the academic year. The school principals take the responsibility for filling in the information and the Dzongkhag Education Offices for collecting, checking and returning it to the PPD by end of March.
This annual report presents national data in primary and secondary schools. Enrolment patterns, regional geographical trends, types and location of schools, students and staffing, demographic characteristics and student participation in selected education programs are reported. Where data permits, the exhibits compare information across years.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The total number of schools in the general education system in Bhutan consists of 344 Primary Schools, 9 private Primary Schools, 93 Lower Secondary Schools, 1 private Lower Secondary Schools, 56 Middle Secondary Schools, 2 private Middle Secondary Schools, 34 Higher Secondary Schools, 14 Private Higher Secondary Schools and 96 ECCD centers (29 private, 8 NGO based and 54 community based). The total school enrolment for the current academic year is 1,78,359 which includes 1,10,575 in primary schools, 50,828 in Lower and Middle Secondary Schools, 15,244 in Higher Secondary Schools, 42 in the National Institute for the Visually Impaired and 1670 in the Continuing Education programme.
Additionally a substantial number of children are studying abroad. Many parents send their children to schools in towns like Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Chennai in India under private funding. At the school level there are over 350 students studying outside Bhutan and about 3855 students at the tertiary level with majority of them studying in India.
Adult literacy programmes are offered to 13,360 learners in 953 Non-Formal Education cen-tres across the country.
The RUB has 11 colleges located across the country, while under the MoLHR there are 8 vocational training institutes. The central monastic body has 388 monastic schools (the number of private monastic institutions remains unaccounted for). That makes a total of 2011 educational institutions in the country.
In 2012, three Primary Schools, one private Higher Secondary School and 17 Extended Classrooms were opened while seven schools were upgraded to Lower Secondary, six to Middle Secondary (4 public and 2 private) and three to Higher Secondary. At the same time, 7 Primary Schools were downgraded to ECRs, while 8 ECRs were upgraded to Primary Schools. Additonally, 5 ECRs and 3 Primary Schools(1 public and 2 private) were closed.
Excluding the monastic teachers, there are 10,459 teachers and Instructors in Bhutan. In the school system alone, there were 7932 teachers as of March 2012.
This year the Net Primary Enrolment Ratio (NER) stands at 96% , meaning that 96% of 6-12 years old are enrolled in the primary education program. This does not include the 6-12 year olds who are enrolled abroad, in the secondary levels, or in the monastic education system.
The increasing enrolment and primary school completion rates indicate that Bhutan is on track to achieving the Millenium Development (MDG) Goals. However the last mile will be the hardest to achieve. Currently, it is estimated that 2% of primary age children are out of school. This 2% are expected to be children in remote and hard to reach areas, children of no-madic communities and migrant populations, children with learning disabilities whose special learning needs are currently not catered for and children of the urban poor. These children may be out of school because of their differing needs from the majority of the students, and the key challenge is to put in place innovative and cost effective strategies to provide access to a quality education.
The increase in enrolment at the primary education level is now placing enormous pressure at the secondary schools, thus resulting in overcrowded classrooms. Therefore another key challenge will be to provide space at the secondary level for students moving up from the primary level. Progress made within the primary education programme over the last decade to meet the MDGs and the Education for All goals has placed enormous pressure on limited resources of teachers, facilities and finance and severely tested the capacity of the system to deliver Bhutan’s commitment to provide quality education for all. A major challenge therefore lies in maintaining a level of resources to support both expansion and qualitative development of the basic education programme.
1.1. THE MODERN EDUCATION SYSTEMUntil the 1950s, education in Bhutan was mainly monastic. Literacy was confined to the monasteries, and many eminent Bhutanese scholars traveled to Tibet to study Buddhist scriptures. The only formal education available to Bhutanese students, (with the exception of a few private schools in Haa and Bumthang established in 1913/1914), was through Buddhist monasteries. Today, the education system in Bhutan has three main elements: general education, monastic education and non-formal education. The first type of education is by far the biggest and is commonly seen as the only educational structure.
While monastic education continues to be an important part of the national culture, the current formal education system has been promoted and expanded since the first Five Year Plan in 1961 to address the basic educational needs, and develop human resources required for the socio-economic development of the country. Within a period of five decades, the Royal Government has been able to expand the modern education system from about 11 schools prior to the first Five Year Plan in 1961 to 670 schools and institutes in 2012, spanning from primary schools and early childhood care and development (ECCD) centres to tertiary and vocational institutes. Fig. 1.1 shows the progressive growth of the number of schools and institutes since the 1st Five Year Plan (FYP).
Figure 1.1 Growth in the number of Schools and Institutes
At the same time the expansion of the education system has been accompanied by rapid
growth in the enrolment of students. From about 400 students in the early 1960’s, total enrolment has increased in all levels of formal education and tertiary institutes in Bhutan to 1,88,214 as of March 2012, reflecting a growth of about 20% since the start of the 10th Five Year Plan in 2008.
Fig. 1.2 shows the progressive increase in enrolment in schools and institutes since the 1st Five Year Plan
Figure 1.2 Growth in enrolment in Schools and Institutes
For those who could not attend general or monastic education, basic and post literacy courses in Dzongkha are offered all over the country in non-formal education centers.
Since 2006, the Ministry of Education in collaboration with higher secondary schools, has initiated a continuing education programme, to allow school drop outs the opportu-nity to continue their education and upgrade their qualifications.
1.1.1. General education structure
The school-based education structure in Bhutan comprises of 11 years of free basic education from classes PP to X, divided into 7 years of primary education (PP-VI), which starts at the age of 6, and 4 years of Secondary Education (VII-X). At the end of the cycle (Class X) there is a national board examination, Bhutan Certificate for Secondary Education (BCSE).
Beyond class X, students either continue their general education in classes XI and XII in Higher Secondary schools or join the vocational training institutes or enter the labour market based on the students’ performance in the board examinations (BCSE). Students who do not qualify for government funded education attend private higher secondary schools in Bhutan or abroad and vocational courses organized by private training institutes. The duration of vocational training in both government and private institutes vary depending upon the type of course.
After completing class XII (public and private), graduates either continue their studies at the tertiary level under one of the institutes under the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) for a diploma or a bachelor’s degree, or enter the job market. Selection for the RUB is based upon BHSEC results. A limited number of students are selected for government scholarships for professional studies abroad, while others fund themselves to tertiary education institutes in country and abroad. Some graduates from the Vocational Training Institutes are selected to continue education at the tertiary level.
Figure 1.3 gives a schematic overview of the general education structure in Bhutan.
At the primary education level a school was earlier either called a primary school or a community primary school. Since both schools offer, in principle, similar kind of schooling (seven years of education, from PP to VI), the decision to rename all Community Primary Schools as Primary Schools was endorsed during the 15th Annual Education Conference (AEC). As of the 10th FYP, and in order to reach the smallest population catchment areas, extended classrooms (ECRs) have also been established. Extended Classrooms are extensions of primary schools in remote and scattered settlements, established with the intention of bringing education closer to communities and reducing walking distances for very young children.
At the secondary level, the classification of a school depends on the final class that is taught. Schools that have Class VIII as their final class, are called Lower Secondary, while schools that have Class X or XII as their terminal classes are called Middle Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools respectively.
1.2 GENERAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM
Encapsulated under the Educating for GNH umbrella, the objective of all school education in Bhutan is to impart a well rounded and value based education so that the product is a GNH graduate with the right skills, attitudes and values. In this respect, and in order to ensure that the values and principles of GNH are infused into the education system and practised as a way of being by both students and teachers, the Guidelines for Educating for GNH have been developed and all school leaders are currently undergoing training.
At a basic level, the objective of primary education in Bhutan is to impart basic literacy and numeracy skills, to provide knowledge of the country’s history, geography, culture and traditions and to teach the fundamentals of agriculture, health & hygiene, and population education. Moral and value education are given special attention. Activity-based learning is used uniformly across the country to teach these skills and knowledge. Class IX students can choose between Economics, Commercial Studies and Computer Applications while in higher secondary education students have to choose between Arts, Commerce and Science. From 2011, 6 schools located near vocational training institutes also offer vocational skills as an optional subject in classes IX and X.
The Bhutan Council for School Examinations and Assessment (BCSEA) [formerly known as BBE] conducts the national examinations for classes X and XII. The examinations for classes VI and VIII have been decentralized to the schools, although the questions, model answers and marking schemes are provided by the BCSEA.
Curriculum reforms of English, Dzongkha and Mathematics were initiated in the 9th FYP and are continued in the 10th FYP, especially for Dzongkha and Mathematics. Figure 1.4 provides an overview of the curriculum up to Class XII.
Learning areas with specific subjects and periods set in the time table
Learning areas addressed in co-curricular programmes, school organisations or integrated in the subject areas
The responsibility for the administration of education in Bhutan is shared amongst the Ministry of Education (MoE), the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources (MoLHR), the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB), the Dzongkhags and the Gewogs. Monastic education is the responsibility of the central monastic body and privately managed independent monasteries.
The MoE is responsible for policy planning, curriculum development and administration of Basic (Primary up to Middle secondary), Higher Secondary and Non Formal and Continuing Education. It is also responsible for ex-country tertiary level scholarships, and the design and implementation of Higher Education Policy. This includes liaising with institutions at that level, such as the RUB. The organizational structure of the MoE is presented in the appendices.
The Dzongkhag Administrations are entrusted with a range of responsibilities in the education sector, both formal and non formal education, school construction and maintenance, supply of teaching learning materials, deployment of teachers within the Dzongkhag and implementation of national policies. These responsibilities are carried out by Dzongkhag Education Officers (DEOs), and Assistant DEOs, all of whom report both to the Dzongdag and the Ministry of Education.
The MoLHR is responsible for vocational training after class X and the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) is responsible for planning, curriculum development and administration of the eleven tertiary institutions responsible for the provision of public education after class XII.
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) is defined as programmes and services for children from conception to age eight and their families, encompassing health and nutrition services, early stimulation and education, and parent education and support. ECCD emphasizes a holistic approach focusing on the child’s physical, emotional, social and cognitive development, so as to nurture children’s physical and mental development and to prepare them for school and life with the right attitudes and dispositions. ECCD is therefore seen as a way to maximize developmental potentials of children, and improving learning outcomes ultimately leading to reduction in costs and improvements in the efficiency of the education and health systems.
In order to provide the best start in life for young children and especially those from the disadvantaged sections of the community,
2PRE-PRIMARY
AND PRIMARY
EDUCATION
2.1. EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENTthe Ministry of Education has adopted a two pronged strategy for the provision of ECCD through a) the promotion of sound parenting and child care practices for young children through home and family based interventions using the mass media, NFE centres, health
facilities and schools and b) promotion of and support to early childhood care and development centres to enhance early learning opportunities for children age 3 to 6, through community based ECCD centres and centres run by private sector, civil society organizations and corporate bodies.
As of March 2012, there are 96 ECCD Centres in the country as shown in the map below:
Primary education is universally agreed to be a prime driver of sustainable economic and social development. It helps accelerate progress towards the achievement of development goals of other sectors in addition to the fact that a well educated population is a huge asset and a desirable end in itself. Moreover, investments in primary education pay off handsomely in the long term and have a notable impact in helping reduce poverty and inequity. Recognizing this, the Royal Government has continually invested in expanding primary education over all the five year plans and is well on track towards achieving all of its education related goals and targets under the Millennium Development Goals. In the 9th FYP, 111 community primary and primary schools were established increasing the total primary enrolment from 93,974 in 2003 to 106,100 in 2008. Over the same period, the gross primary enrolment ratio increased from 81 % to 112%, while the net primary enrolment ratio increased from 62% to 88%.
Work Place ECCD Centre - 5Community ECCD Centre - 54 Private ECCD Centre -29 NGO ECCD Centre -8
The 10th FYP emphasizes the universalization of primary education, to ensure that all citizens are equipped with at least the minimum knowledge and skills to lead better lives. The plan envisages achieving 100% NER in primary education, 90% NER in basic education, and a literacy rate of 70% in the 15+ age group. To achieve this target the Ministry of Education is committed to improving the quality of basic education and also the efficiency of the education system, and at the same time increasing access to primary and secondary education.
The establishment of Extended Classrooms (ECRs) is aligned with these efforts to improve access to school for every child, and especially in remote, rural and scattered villages where students have to walk long distances to school
2.2. EXTENDED CLASSROOMS
3251 students or over 3% of primary students are enrolled in ECRs this year. Without ECRs, these students would otherwise have been out of school, or had to either walk long distances or be enrolled in boarding schools to access education.
These initiatives have enabled the RGoB to improve Net Primary Enrolment Ratio (NPER) from 88% at the start of the 10th FYP to 96% in 2012.
2.3. PRE-PRIMARY AND PRIMARY EDUCATIONAs of 2012, which marks the last year of the 10th FYP, there are 353 primary schools and the total primary enrolment stands at 1,10,575. The primary GER has increased to 118% and the Primary NER to 95.7% in 2012.
While there has been considerable expansion in the first grade of primary education with an average growth rate of 0.6% per annum from 2002 to 2012, there has also been a notable decline in growth rate from 2009 onwards, with a decrease of 8% between 2011 and 2012.
This may be an indication of the reduction in the number of out of school students as well as the decline in population growth rate due to family planning and or delayed marriage and childbirth. The decrease could also be attributed to the increase in the number of ECRs which help in enrolling right age children and also covering the out of school children starting from 2010 onwards, leading to some sort of stabilization in the enrolment in the early grades. This is shown in table 2.1 below:
Table 2.1 Gross or Apparent Intake Ratio (AIR) 2006-2012
Class Year Enrolment Repeaters New Entrants Pop. 6 yrs old AIR
Table no 2.1 shows the Apparent Intake Ratio (AIR) (which is an indication of the number of children enrolled in PP for the first time as a percentage of the right age population or 6 years old) and the Net Intake Ratio (NIR) (which indicates the number of 6 year old children enrolled in PP for the first time as a percentage of the number of 6 year olds in the population), for the last 6 years for both pri-vate and public students (excluding those 6-12 years old children enrolled in the monasteries and abroad).
The Net Intake Rate (NIR) in 2012 stands at 46%, meaning that 46% of the right age population (6 years old) are enrolled in the 1st grade (PP) of primary. However accord-ing to our administrative data, 52% of the PP enrolment including the repeaters are of right age (6 years old), while 48% are either overage (41%) or underage (8%).
While the government has been successful in reaching almost all the children, ensuring right age admission will always remain a challenge since children enrol in school at different ages due to various factors such as parental preference, walking distance, illness, special needs etc.
As shown in the table, the AIR which had always exceeded 100% in the past years, showed a decrease from 2011 onwards. This could be due to the decline in new admissions in PP since 2010 against the increasing population of 6 year olds. Such deflation of figures could also be attributed to the high variation in population figures.
Table 2.2 below shows the new admissions in PP for the last 9 years. The declining PP enrolment since 2010 could be a positive impact of the initiatives taken by the government to improve access, such as the establishment of ECRs, provision of boaring and feeding etc, which may have resulted in the enrolment of most out of school children.
Figure 2.1 Pre-primary enrolment by age, March 2012
Table 2.3 Enrolment in Primary Education, 2002-2012
The table above shows the age-specific enrolment rates for primary classes. This actually highlights the extent to which the offical age of admission is followed and maintained. Therefore, on average, only about 33% of primary enrolment is of right age and about 67%, or more than half the primary enrolment comprises of over aged and under aged children.
2.4. PRIMARY NET AND GROSS ENROLMENT RATIO (GPER AND NPER)
Table 2.5 below presents the key education indicators for access to education, Gross Primary Enrolment Ratio (GPER) and Net Primary Enrolment Ratio (NPER). These are calculated based on the population provided in the Projection of Population and Housing Census 2005. We can see from the table below that the NPER and GPER at all levels have increased significantly since 2007.
Table 2.5 Enrolment Ratios since 2007
Gross Primary EnrolmentNet Primary Enrolment
Male Female Total
2012 118% 95% 96% 96%
2011 120% 94% 96% 95%
2010 118% 93% 95% 94%
2009 116% 91% 93% 92%
2008 112% 87% 89% 88%
2007 106% 84% 84% 84%
The biggest increases are observed for the NPER increasing from 88% in 2008 to 95.7% percent in 2012; with an almost equal representation of boys and girls.
The NPER for girls grew by 12 percentage points over the four-year period, compared to 11 percentage points for boys, indicating increased girls’ enrolment. This can also be attributed to the fact that fewer boys than girls enroll in school at the official school age.
2.4.1. Net Attendance Ratio
The adjusted Net Primary Attendance Ratio (NAR), an indicator generated from a household survey –the Bhutan Multiple Indicator Survey- conducted by the National Statistics Bureau, is an indicator analogous to the adjusted NER. Its primary function is to indicate the participation rates of children aged six to twelve in education and not the number of days the child is attending school. Although the data is from the survey conducted in 2010, in the absence of reliable dzongkhag level population data, it is presented here in order to provide an idea of the indicators at the dzongkhag level. It would also be useful to bear in mind that the findings of house-hold surveys typically under report the findings from administrative data sources (UNESCO, 2010). However, the adjusted NAR for Bhutan from the BMIS at 91.9%, compares to the NER for 2010 at 93.7%. The difference between the two indicators is well within the error margins of the survey.
Table 2.6 below presents the adjusted NAR by Dzongkhags and gender for 2010. Bumthang, Sarpang, Pemagatshel, Thimphu and Trongsa are the five Dzongkhags with the highest surveyed adjusted NAR, while Punakha, Chukha, Mongar, Lhuentse, Wangdue and Gasa are the six Dzongkhags with the lowest adjusted NAR. These six Dzongkhags also have adjusted NAR below 90%.
In 2006, only Bumthang and Trongsa had NER above 90%. In all 20 Dzongkhags, participation rates of six to twelve years old children in education had improved significantly by 2010 as per the BMIS 2010. Samtse, Tsirang, Sarpang, Haa and Chukha had increased participation rates of children six to twelve years old in education by more than 15% each.
In terms of gender, 15 of the 20 Dzongkhags had GPI close to 1.0, indicating equity in terms of participation. Thimphu, Dagana, Samtse and Gasa are the only four Dzongkhags that have GPI of exactly 1.0. The five Dzongkhags that have GPI score that diverge from 1.0 by more than 0.03, indicating inequity in terms of participation of the two genders, are Pemagatshel, Trongsa, Haa, Punakha and Mongar. In each of these Dzongkhags, the participation levels of girls in primary education greatly exceeds that of boys.
Figure 2.3 Net Primary Enrolment Ratios since 1998
84%
87%
91%93%
94% 95%
84%
89%
93%95%
96% 96%
75%
80%
85%
90%
95%
100%
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Boys Girls
53%
84%88% 92%
94% 95%96% 100%
50%55%60%65%70%75%80%85%90%95%
100%
1998 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2015
The net primary enrolment ratios for girls showed much higher growth rates than for boys. In terms of enrolment, there are no gender disparities between boys and girls, with girls sometimes doing better than boys at the national level. However as per the BMIS 2010, there are significantly more boys enrolled in T/Yangtse and Lhuentse, while, in Punakha Mongar and Haa, there are more girls enrolled.
Despite the increase in NPER over the years, full enrolment would never actually be achieved unless all children enrolled in various levels of education and in various forms are accounted for. The traditional definition of NPER looks only at children aged 6-12 years enrolled in the primary grades.
This leaves out children of the same age group enrolled abroad, in secondary levels or in the monastic education system. Recognising this drawback of the traditional definition, the Ministry of Education has now come up with a new definition to ensure that all children are accounted for when measuring primary education coverage.
The new definition is called Adjusted Net Enrolment Ratio (ANER) and looks at all 6-12 year old children enrolled in the school system both in-country and abroad and also children enrolled in the monastic system. In 2012, 1.3% of the 6-12 years old children are enrolled in secondary classes.
While it is not possible to know how many children are exactly enrolled abroad and in the monastic system, the BMIS 2010 survey provides an indicative figure of the propor-tion of children studying abroad and in the monastic system as follows:
Figure 2.4 Division of primary enrolment
The estimated number of out of school primary school age children is around 2,348 (2%). The box below analyses some of the possible reasons why these children may be out of school.
Box 2.1 Assumptions on why 2% of primary school aged children are out of school
• A large proportion of these children are 6 years old and not yet in school. Since the NIR is estimated to be around 46%, while the AIR is around 84%, more than 50% of the children entering school for the first time are older than 6 years old, while some 8% are younger, especially in the private schools. Based on the avail-able data, around 18% of the primary enrolment are over the age of 12 and 1% of the primary enrolment are 5 years and below. It is estimated that around 7% of the 6-12 year old children are 6 years old and not yet enrolled. Given the limited spaces in urban areas and the difficult walking distances in remote areas, it is very likely that most of them will be enrolled next year or the year after.
• The last group are the children 7 years and older who are currently out of school. They will have dropped out or never went to school. Looking at the current age of entrants in PP some might still enroll or return to school while some will not. Since the age of the drop-outs is unknown, it is not possible to estimate how many of these children have actually dropped out and how many never went to school.
• Some of the out of school children mentioned above would also include disabled children who may not be able to access education due to lack of adequate facili-ties. In order to achieve universal primary education it would be necessary to make provisions also for the education of all disabled and special needs children.
a) The BMIS indicates that about 0.7% of 6-12 year old children are studying in the monastic schools.
b) The BMIS also indicates that about 0.4 percent of 6-12 year old children are studying outside Bhutan.
c) We know from administrative data that 1.3% of the 6-12 years old children are enrolled in secondary schools in Bhutan.
From the above, we can conclude that the ad-justed net enrolment ratio for primary educa-tion or 6-12 years old children is 98%.
This means that approximately 2% of the primary age children are out of school. It is expected that these may be children in remote and hard to reach areas, children of nomadic communities and migrant populations, children with learning disabilities whose special learning needs are currently not catered for and children of the urban poor. These children have different needs from the majority of the students, and the key challenge is to put in place innovative and cost effective strategies to provide equal and equitable access to quality education for all children.
2.4.2. Adjusted Net Primary Enrolment Ratio (ANER)
The objective of the secondary education development programme in the 10th FYP is to enhance net enrolment ratio in basic education level to near 90% and maintain the proportion of students continuing to class XI in government schools at approximately 40% of the graduating grade X cohort. The other objective of the secondary education programme is to make it more relevant by realigning the curriculum to meet the emerging needs of the Bhutanese economy.
Secondary education in Bhutan follows a four-year cycle (VII-X) comprising of two years of lower secondary (VII-VIII), and two years of middle secondary (IX-X), followed by two years of higher secondary school (XI-XII).
With the basic education level being raised from grade VIII to X, a majority of the students now proceed on to grade X and beyond. Enrolment in classes VII to X increased from 31,448 in 2004 to 50,828 in 2012 or with an average increase of 6% over the last eight years. To accommodate this expansion, seven schools were upgraded to Lower Secondary and three public and two private to Middle Secondary in the 2012 academic year. Currently, there are 152 lower and middle secondary schools contributing to the gross enrolment ratio and net enrolment ratio, at basic education level, of 108% and 94% respectively.
SECONDARYEDUCATION
VII-XII
The following table gives the enrolment for classes VII to X since 2002. Since private schools hardly offer these levels there is no distinction made between public and private students. The annual growth at this level has been very high since 2002, especially compared with the growth in primary education.
There is a remarkable increase in the secondary enrolment with an average annual increase of 6.3% for the past ten years, although the enrolment ratio is low in terms of correct age enrolment i.e. 39 %( VII-VIII) and 29 %( IX-X) in Lower and Middle Secondary level respectively, with again more girls enrolled at the correct age. But the overall secondary (VII-X) gross enrolment ratio stands at 107 and 80% respectively. (See summary for details)
Due to the increased enrolment at the primary, lower and middle secondary education levels, and the Royal Government’s decision to raise the basic education level to grade X, there has been a notable increase in the number of students continuing their education beyond grade X. Three middle secondary schools have been upgraded to higher secondary level in 2012. The enrolment in grades XI-XII has increased from 6,691 in 2004 to 15,244 in 2012, with an average increase of 11% over the last eight year.
Overall, the enrolment has increased tremendously in the last 9 years. With the increase in enrolment at the primary level and the continued improvement in transition rates from Primary to Secondary and from Secondary to Higher Secondary, this growth will continue for quite some time.
The NER in Higher Secondary education currently stands at only 20%, which means only 20% of 17-18 years old are enrolled in Class XI and XII. The remaining 80% are either enrolled at the lower classes (50%), monastic(8%) education, studying outside Bhutan (0.7%) or are out of school (14%). The adjusted NHSER stands at 86% indicating that 86% of 17-18 year olds are accessing education.
While the enrolment of right age (17-18 year olds) students is low, the overall enrolment in classes XI and XII is 59% (GER) including the students in continuing education (53% for only regular students). Over all both NER and GER at the HSS level has increased as compared to last year by about 3 and 10 percent respectively.
Table 3.2 NER and GER for Higher Secondary Schools
Male Female Total GPINER 18% 22% 20% 1.20Adjusted NER 87% 86% 86% 1.00GER (in school) 55% 51% 53% 0.93GER (including CE) 60% 58% 59% 0.97
As of recent statistics, Transition Rate from Primary to Secondary education is 98.5% i.e. about 1.9% increase since last year. This means that almost 99% of students enrolled in class VI in 2011 are enrolled in class VII in 2012.
The transition rate from primary to secondary was 99.8% for girls and 97% for boys, indicating that more girls transition to the secondary level than boys. Not only do girls have very high primary school enrolment ratios, they are also more likely to continue their education at the secondary level.
There are currently 48 higher secondary schools including 14 private schools in the country. Establishment of private schools is being encouraged to develop a more sustainable education system as well as to diversify choices for education to the public. Today, there are twenty six private schools catering to the various education levels in the country.
Figure 3.1 shows the enrolment trend in class XI and XII since 2004
3.2 HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION (XI-XII)
Figure 3.1 Enrolment trend in class XI and XII since 2004
66917684 8102
8816
10157
11815
1331413,940
15,244
6000700080009000
10000110001200013000140001500016000
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
As could be seen from the above tables, girls have overtaken boys in terms of right age enrolment both in primary and secondary education with the GPI at the primary level of 1.02 and at secondary level of 1.1 in 2012 indicating that more girls participate in education than boys in both primary and secondary levels. However the GPI of 0.97 at grades XI & XII reverses the gender situation completely in favour of boys, indicating that significantly fewer girls transition to the Higher Secondary level than boys.
Table 3.3 Transition rate
Male Female Total GPI
Transition rate (Primary to Lower Secondary)
97.1% 99.8% 98.5% 1.03
Transition rate (Lower Secondary to Middle Second-ary)
94.9% 94.4% 94.7% 0.99
Transition rate (Middle Secondary to Higher Second-ary)
Figure 3.5 shows the distribution of enrolment among the streams offered by public and private schools. Only a few private schools offer Science. The majority of the students in government schools opt for Science. The main reason for the increase in Science enrolment this year could be attributed to the increase in number of Science seats in government schools. Commerce appears to be the most popular stream among the private school students.
Figure 3.2 Division of streams in the Public and Private Higher Secondary School
4.1 VOCATIONAL EDUCATIONProvision of vocational education is the responsibility of the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources. At the moment there are 8 Vocational Training institutes.
Table 4.1 Staff and students in Vocational Training Institutes academic year 2011
Dzong-khag Name of the Institute
Length of
course
Total Enrolment 2011
New Admission 2011
Teacher
Male Fe-male Total Male Fe-
male Total Male Fe-male Total NBht
Thimphu1 Thimphu Institute of Auto-
mobile Engineering 2 Years 33 5 38 16 1 17 11 8 19 0
2 National Institute of Zorig Chusum
2-6 Years 88 74 162 0 24 4 28 0
Wangdue 3 Samthang Institute of Auto-mobile Engineering
6 months
to 2 yrs
193 4 197 72 0 72 19 5 24 0
Punakha 4 Khuruthang Institute of Electrical Engineering 2 Years 117 63 180 71 37 108 28 13 41 3
Bumthang 5 Chumey Institute of Civil Engineering 2 Years 38 36 74 25 21 46 16 3 19
Sarpang 8 Sershong Institute of Civil Engineering 2 Years 53 32 85 28 11 39 23 4 27 0
Total 694 323 1017 275 98 373 175 48 223 3
4.2 TERTIARY EDUCATION
All publicly financed tertiary education in Bhutan is under the umbrella of the Royal University of Bhutan. At the moment 10 different institutes and one private Tertiary Institute constitute the Royal University of Bhutan. Girls enrolment is seen to be less than boys in the RUB, with female male ratio of 2:3. While the majority of the students under RUB (with the exception of RTC) are funded by the RGoB, about 16% are self financed.
Table 4.2 Staff and Students in the Royal University of Bhutan academic year 2011
Sl. Level of schoolsStudents Teachers
Boys Girls Total Bht N/Bht TotalPublic Institutions
1 College of Natural Resources, Lobesa 121 30 151 73 2 75 2 College of Science and Technology, Rinchhending 335 142 477 90 6 96
3 Institute of Language and Culture Studies, Sem-tokha 215 203 418 78 1 79
4 Jigme Namgyel Polytechnic, Dewathang 321 92 413 75 2 77 5 National Institute of Traditional Medicine, Thimphu 32 19 51 27 - 27 6 Paro College of Education 494 355 849 106 - 106 7 Royal Institute of Health Sciences, Thimphu 197 158 355 58 1 59 8 Samtse College of Education 426 231 657 99 7 106 9 Sherubtse College, Kanglung 642 426 1,068 131 35 166 10 Gaeddug College of Business Studies 580 415 995 78 34 112
Sub-Total 3,363 2,071 5,434 815 88 903
Private Institute
11 Royal Thimphu College 403 478 881 13 32 45
Total 3,766 2,549 6,315 828 120 948
4.3. TERTIARY STUDENTS ABROADEvery year, the RGoB provides scholarships for class XII graduates to study various professions abroad. These slots are limited and merit based. Several other funding agencies like the Government of India also provide undergraduate scholarships. Table 4.3 gives the number of undergraduate students with scholarships abroad.
A significant number of students also study abroad through private funding. Table 4.4 gives the students studying privately in India and in other countries. The private student numbers are based upon the membership figures of the Bhutanese Student Associations in the different towns and countries.
Table 4.3 Bhutanese Undergraduate Scholarship Students Abroad and in RTC,2012
Year of pass-ing out
India (RGOB funding) India (GOI funding) Third countries, RGOB
Third countries (Bi-lateral funding), RTC,
Thimphu (RGoB funding)
Total
Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Fe-male Total
Table 4.4 Bhutanese privately funded Tertiary Education students abroad, 2012
CountryPrivate funding
Scholarship Student Total
Male Female Total
India 1770 1391 3161 364 3525
Bangladesh 8 33 41 14 16
Thailand 14 13 27 29 31
Australia 1 1 36 39
Cuba 7 5
Korea 5 5
Nepal 1 1
Sri-Lanka 1 14 15 126 136
Thimphu 20 50
USA 7 7
Malaysia 1 1
Total 1794 1451 3245 610 3855
The number of girls receiving scholarships and those under private funding is much lower than the number of boys. i.e. only 38 and 47 percent respectively. It remains a challenge to improve the participation of girls at that level.
Literacy is deeply linked to all aspects of life and livelihood and is unquestionably a powerful instrument for empowerment and improvements in quality of life.
It remains an essential condition for sustainable socio-economic development and a critical tool to eradicate poverty, enhance employment opportunities, advance gender equality, improve family health, conserve the environment and promote democratic participation. In particular, there is a close and deep interrelationship between illiteracy and poverty at the global, national, and local levels with countries and communities with the lowest levels of literacy doing poorly.
Poverty breeds illiteracy and vice versa in a vicious cycle that is often hard to break. Hence tackling poverty as a prime objective and theme of the 10th FYP will also depend on how effectively the high rates of adult illiteracy are tackled in Bhutan, and particularly in the rural areas. The Bhutan Living Standards Survey (2007) reported national literacy rates at 55.5% .
While national baseline data on literacy still needs to be developed, the BLSS 2007
5Table 5.1 Number of NFE centres and Enrolment as of March 2012
# Dzong-khag
InstructorNo. of Cen-tres
BLC Learners PLC learners Grand Total
Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total
It is interesting to note that participation of women in the NFE programme is high, both as instructors and learners. Participation in Trashigang is the highest in absolute numbers while participation in Samtse is comparatively high.
NON-FORMAL AND CONTINUING
EDUCATION
nevertheless indicates a low level of literacy by both international and regional standards. It is thus a key area for improvement to scale up Bhutan’s progress towards achieving its human development goals and attaining the MDGs.
With the objective of enhancing adult literacy, the Non Formal Education (NFE) programme was introduced in 1992 initially as a joint effort between the Dzongkha Development Authority (DDA) and the National Women’s Association of Bhutan (NWAB). The Ministry of Education formally took over the NFE programme in 1994, now called the Non-Formal and Continuing Education Division (NFCED).
The Non Formal Education Programme has gained widespread popularity as an effective programme for providing basic literacy and functional skills amongst the adult population, and particularly in rural areas. The programme has expanded from 365 centres with 428 instructors in 2003 to 953 centres with 949 instructors in 2012. Over the same period, the number of learners increased from 12,838 to 13,360.
In order to institute a system of continuous learning and to provide school leavers with an opportunity to upgrade their academic qualifications, the Continuing Education (CE) programme was initiated in Kelki Private HSS, in Thimphu in 2006.
Started as a pilot, the Continuing Education Programme which offers 2 year courses for completion of classes X and XII has been expanded to 15 Dzongkhags in both public and private HSS. A total of 1670 learners are currently enrolled in this programme. Since most of the participants are in-service people, the classes are conducted in the evenings and on the weekends, so that the employed can study without having to give up their jobs. While there is a subsidised annual fee, text books are provided free by the government. This program has greatly benefitted those who need to be employed and yet wish to upgrade their level of education. The following table shows the enrolment in the CE programme as of March 2012.
Table 5.2 Enrolment in Continuing Education, March 2012
Dzongkhag # School Male Female TotalBumthang 1 Sonam Kuenphen HSS (Pvt) 2 2 4
Buddhism arrived in Bhutan in the 8th century and has since then played a vital role in shaping the social, political, economic and cultural evolution of the country. Until the modest beginning of modern education in the 1950s the only education available in Bhutan was in monastic schools.
There are two types of monastic schools, the government supported ones that come under the Je Khenpo and private monastic schools that are established and managed by other religious leaders. Shedras, the monastic colleges teach Buddhist studies and philosophy, astrology, language [Choekay, Dzongkha and Sanskrit], religious practice, etc. and award certificates that are equivalent to Bachelors and Masters.
Completion of studies in Shedras generally takes up to nine years. Graduates of Shedras are able to serve as national language teachers in schools and increasingly find employment in the government.
Other religious institutes teach monks in reading and writing, religious practices, meditation, etc. so that they are able to fulfill the religious requirements and functions of the society. The religious institutes under the government receive annual budgets from the
1 Source: National report on the development of education.
MONASTIC
EDUCATION
government whereas the private ones depend on donations from the supporters of individual Lamas. Education is provided free in monastic schools1.
Private monastic schools supported by prominent religious leaders and organizations also provide education in ecclesiastical affairs. These religious institutes also provide free education.
Table 6.1 gives an overview of the monastic novices. The Monastic body has reported that there are 7,240 monastic novices in 388 monastic schools and 3 nunneries over Bhutan. This enrolment is significantly lower than the one reported for 2006, which was 9287.
Information on monasteries not administered by the central monastic body is not available in detail. The central monastic body has reported that in 2004, there were 5,149 learners enrolled in these monasteries. It is obvious that more boys than girls are enrolled in these schools.
Presently, there is one school in Sarpang with 7 students catering to the study of Sanskrit for young children.
7.1. SPECIAL EDUCATIONThe long-term objective of the Special Education Services Programme is to provide access for all children with disabilities and special needs, including those with physical, mental and other types of impairment, to general education in regular schools. The Royal Government thus seeks to maintain an inclusive approach to improve educational access to and meet the special needs of those with physical disabilities and learning impediments.
In the Ninth Plan, a Special Education Unit was established within the Department of School Education and a draft Special Education Policy and Guidelines were formulated. The existing National Institute for the Visually Impaired was partially rebuilt and expanded to accommodate additional students with impaired vision. In Thimphu, a new resource center to help children with special needs (mental and physical impairments) was established at Changangkha Lower Secondary School (LSS). To cater to the education of hearing impaired children, Bhutanese sign language was developed and a deaf education center established at the Drugyal LSS in Paro.
The objective of this programme during the Tenth Plan is to provide enhanced special
SPECIAL EDUCATION
education services to the children with a wide range of disabilities including learning difficulties by providing support facilities in selected schools across the country.
The Tenth Plan will support the development of additional physical facilities in the National Institute for Visually Impaired (NIVI), Khaling and the Deaf Education Center in Drugyel to cope with the increasing enrolment pressure for special education services. Further, five more special education centres were established on the Changangkha model to allow children with special needs to access general education in regular schools. To develop national capacity and expertise, the plan will support training on special needs education. Teaching-learning materials will also be provided to strengthen the special education services in the existing and new centers.
In addition to Drugyel LSS in Paro and the Changangkha MSS in Thimphu, 6 other schools also cater to special needs education. These schools contribute towards the RGoB’s objective to make schools as inclusive as possible and integrate special education into mainstream education. There are about 343 students and 177 teachers in these 8 special education schools as of March 2012.
Table 7.1 Enrolment in Special Education Institute, March 2012
Dzongkhag Name of the InstituteEnrolment
Instructors/teachersBhutanese Non Bhutanese
Boys Girls Male Female Male Female
Samtse Tendu HSS 7 3 4 3 1
Mongar Mongar LSS 34 29 13 30 1
Thimphu Changangkha MSS 35 19 2 10
ParoDrugyel LSS 35 27 3 10
Deaf Education Unit 46 27 8 9
Trashigang
Jigme Sherubling HSS 11 2 17 3 9 2
Khaling LSS 7 6 8 7 1 1
National Institute for Visually Impaired 20 22 11 3 1
Zhemgang Zhemgang LSS 8 5 8 12
Total 203 140 74 87 12 4
Despite a slow increase over the last few years, the enrolment in the NIVI has decreased this year, especially compared to the spectacular enrolment increase in regular education. One of the challenges for the education sector is to ensure that all children with special needs receive a suitable education so they can become full members of society.
Bhutan has witnessed impressive achievements in terms of girls participation rates with an NPER of 96% for girls as compared to 95% for boys with a girl/boy ratio of 100 girls for every 100 boys. The national survival rate for girls in primary school stands at 99.2% exceeding that of boys at 96.2%.
With the exception of the higher secondary level, girls’ enrolment as a percentage of total school enrolment is about 50%, at every level of general education. The percentage of girls’ enrolment in Secondary education has increased from 45% in 2002 to 50.1% in 2012 with an increase of 0.3% over last year. Girls therefore make up more than half the total
GIRLS ENROLMENT
enrolment at the secondary level. Even at the higher secondary level, the enrolment of girls has been increasing steadily over the years. Fig. 8.1 below shows the steady increase in participation of girls in secondary education.
The enrolment in private Secondary Schools –grades VII to XII - has increased to 10% of total enrolment, compared to 8% in 2006. Girls enrolment in private higher secondary schools has increased to 49.6% (see Table 8.1 below), an increase of about 7.4 % since 2006.
8.1 CURRENT SITUATION OF GIRLS PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATION
Table 8.1 Percentage-wise girls enrolment per level and type of school, March 2012
Though girls are doing well both at the primary and secondary levels, girls enrolment decreases drastically when they reach Class XI. Table 8.2 show that girls’ enrolment declines as they proceed to higher classes and especially after class X.
The administrative data shows that about 89 girls for every 100 boys continue their education in grades XI and XII. When we compare the same figures for students of the appropriate age for the level, i.e. 17 to 18 years of age- we see that there are 109 girls for every 100 boys enrolled in classes XI and XII. This indicates that right age participation level of girls is higher than of boys.
This is borne out when analyzing the
Figure 8.1 Girls participation in Public Secondary Education Table 8.2 Girls’ enrolment by type/level of school, March 2012
Class
Private Schools
Extended Classroom
Primary Schools
Lower Secondary
Schools
Middle Secondary
Schools
Higher Secondary
SchoolsTotal
Girls Total Girls Total Girls Total Girls Total Girls Total Girls Total Girls Total
Table 8.3 gives a regional picture of girls participation in education under the different categories of schools by Dzongkhag. Girls enrolment as a percentage of the total enrolment is a crude indicator, since it does not take into account differences in overall population, especially in small population groups where a 50-50 gender division is almost never present.
indicators for GER and NER at this level separately for boys and girls. The higher secondary GER for boys stands at 55% -significantly higher than for girls at 51%, while the NER for boys at 18% is much lower than the 22% NER for girls. (see Table III Education Indicators at a Glance). This indicates that while the participation levels of boys is higher than that of girls at the higher secondary level, the right age participation level of girls exceeds that of boys. Further research to better understand the underlying causes of this phenomenon is essential to promote a better gender balance at this level.
On average, girls make up 50% of the enrolment in Bhutanese schools and in several Dzongkhags it is above 50%. Since enrolment and population figures are so small, these are only indicative figures. It is difficult to draw valid conclusions without knowing the actual population in the Dzongkhags and regional categories.
Table 8.3 Girl’s enrolment by category and Dzongkhag, March 2012
As mentioned earlier, the comparative enrolment of girls in public Higher Secondary Schools is
lower than in the earlier stages of the general education system. In table 8.4 the girls’ enrolment in class X and class XI is compared over the years.
In 2012 the relative percentage of girls’ enrolment in class XI in Public Higher Secondary Schools had increased by 5% compared to last year. In the publicly financed tertiary education system, both in and ex-country enrolment of girls is still much lower than that of boys.
Only 40% of the students studying in the RUB Colleges and Institutes are girls. Girls make up about 38% of the students that receive scholarship to study in India and abroad, showing an improvement of 11% since last year and about 47% (4% increase since last year) of the students studying outside Bhutan without Royal Government’s financial assistance.
8.3. GIRLS ENROLMENT IN HSS AND TERTIARY EDUCATION
Table 8.4 Girls’ enrolment in class X and class XI public and private schools 2003- 2012.
YearX (Public & Private) XI public XI private
Girls Total % G Girls Total % G Girls Total % G
2012 5289 10533 50% 2184 4669 47% 1451 2717 53%
2011 5273 10390 51% 1493 3564 42% 1604 3123 51%
2010 5025 10293 49% 1415 3425 41% 1608 3021 53%
2009 4262 8757 49% 1361 3271 42% 1356 2719 50%
2008 3883 7909 49% 1116 2885 39% 1320 2541 52%
2007 3675 7691 48% 1096 2667 41% 942 1914 49%
2006 3275 6856 48% 944 2525 37% 865 1709 51%
2005 3038 6427 47% 770 1539 33% 851 1688 50%
2004 2842 6246 46% 656 2031 32% 774 1579 49%
2003 2361 5264 45% 571 1751 33% 613 1240 49%
Overall enrolment of girls in tertiary education is much lower than that of boys with only 5 girls for every 7 boys enrolled in the tertiary level.
The total number of teachers as of March 2012 is 10,296. This includes teachers of government schools, private schools, institutes and Non Formal Centers. The number of teachers in regular government schools is 7932. Table 9.1 shows the teacher strength in Bhutan at the moment.
Table 9.1 Teacher strength March 2012
Government Private Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total
GRAND TOTAL 5,606 3,906 9,512 387 397 784 5,993 4,303 10,296
The proportion of female teachers in the public Higher Secondary Schools is around 35%, a bit less than the proportion of girls in these schools (46%). The teachers above also include 116 community based teachers (CBT) who had been recruited as a temporary measure to help overcome the shortage of teachers in primary schools and especially in rural areas. CBTs for any school are class XII graduates from within the same dzongkhag.
TEACHERS
8.4. GENDER PARITY INDEX
The Gender Parity Index (GPI) is a socioeconomic index designed to measure the relative access to education of males and females. In its simplest form, it is calculated as the quotient of the number of females by the number of males enrolled in a given stage of education (primary, secondary, etc.). It is used by international organizations, particularly in measuring the progress of developing countries. The Institute for Statistics of UNESCO also uses a more general definition of GPI: for any development indicator one can define the GPI relative to this indicator by dividing its value for females by its value for males.
If this index is between 0.97 and 1.03, it is considered to be parity or equal representation of both sexes. A GPI of less than 1 indicates that there are fewer females, in proportion to the appropriate school-age population, than males in the formal education system however, if it is higher or lower, one of the two sexes is underrepresented.
Gender inequities continue to exist in society. In many cultures and traditions, girl children are discouraged from pursuing an education. Not only do girls experience barriers to accessing education, but girls attending school face certain barriers to education that are not shared by their male classmates.
In Bhutan, girls – by and large – don’t experience discrimination with regards to access to education, as is commonly seen in some parts of the world.
This year, the national GPI is 1.02. This indicates that on the whole, the correct proportions of females in relation to males are enrolled in the education system there is no gender inequality in the Bhutanese education system. Both boys and girls have equal opportunities in terms of access, quality of learning process, equality of outcomes and external results.
From an almost total dependence on expatriate teachers in the 1960s, the Bhutanese education system has moved towards self-sufficiency. However, dependence on expatriate teachers continues at the secondary levels and private schools recruit a comparatively large number of ex-pat teachers. At present around 8% of the total teaching force are expatriate teachers. A comparison between 2002 and 2010 shows a notable increase in the proportion and absolute numbers of Bhutanese teachers over the years.
Figure 9.1 Proportion of Bhutanese and non Bhutanese teachers (2002-2012)
3007
4757
5111
6028
6369
6927
7514
669
614
647
653
821
643
595
0 2000 4000 6000 8000
2002
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
NBht Bht
Expatriate teachers constitute 8% of the teaching force. Of these the majority teach at the higher secondary and middle secondary levels. Expatriate teachers make up 21 percent of the teachers in the public higher secondary schools and 25 percent in the private HSS. Similarly, approximately 11 percent of the lecturers in the institutes under the Royal University of Bhutan are expatriates. Gaeddug College of Business Studies has the highest proportion with 30% followed by Sherubtse
Year CoE, Samtse COE, Paro Grand Total Ratio of
female to MaleMale Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total
The enrolment in the 2 teacher colleges has increased to about 1506 students which constitutes a 34% increase since 2004. The proportion of girls choosing to become teachers continues to hover around 40%. This maybe a reflection of the lower proportion of girls enrolled in higher secondary schools. The proportion of girls enrolled in the teacher colleges has remained consistent over the last eight years at about 38-40%. Considering the overall enrolment in the RUB-colleges, the proportion of girls studying in the teacher colleges is higher than the average.
9.2.2 In-Service training
Although many factors combine to make a successful school and therefore a successful education system, the Ministry of Education believes that a high quality teaching force is the most basic element for success. This is especially crucial when the success of a school is defined by the ability of a school to raise the achievement of its students. Teachers are
College with 21% of teaching staff being expatriates lecturers.
The vocational institutes under the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources (MoLHR), and the special institutes and ECCD centers under the Ministry of Education are fully staffed by Bhutanese nationals.
9.2 TEACHER EDUCATION
9.2.1 Pre-service training
Pre-service teacher education is provided at the Colleges of Education (CoE) in Samtse and Paro, the former established in 1968 and the latter in 1975. There are two pre-service programmes offered, a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). The four-year B.Ed. programme caters for primary, secondary and Dzongkha teaching and is provided in both the CoEs, whereas the one year PGCE programme caters for secondary teaching and is provided in the institute at Samtse only.
Entry into the PGCE programme requires a 1st degree, while the B.Ed programme requires a class XII or equivalent certificate. Earlier, the B.Ed degree included a one year field attachment programme for the candidates as apprentice teachers in selected schools at the beginning of the programme. In 2008, 325 students were sent as apprentice teachers. From 2009 onwards the apprenticeship programme at the beginning was discontinued and the B.Ed students now undergo the apprenticeship during the 3rd year of the programme.
The B.Ed programme, which used to be only in English, has now been expanded to include Dzongkha.
9.1.1 Proportion of Non-Bhutanese Teachers
therefore the linchpin on which the success of the education system in Bhutan hinges.
Teachers are regularly updated on new developments in curriculum and other educational issues through in-service training and workshops organized at national, Dzongkhag and school levels, as well as through fellowships outside the country. Every year about 30-40 in-service workshops and trainings are conducted for teachers, out of which more than 10 courses offered are award bearing courses. About 496 teachers were awarded with various masters, degree and diploma certificates in 2011. The details are as follows.
Table 9.2 Enrolment in the Colleges of Education 2004-2011
Degree No.M.Ed (D) 7M.Ed (Physics and Mathematics 5B.Ed (P) 207B.Ed(D) 39B.Ed (S) 85Certifiate in Teaching English 25Certifiate in Teaching mathematics 25Post Graduate Diploma in Mathematics 4Post Graduate Diploma in Arts 12Post Graduate Diploma in Commerce 34Post Graduate Diploma in Economics 15Post Graduate Diploma in IT 4Post Graduate Diploma in Dzongkha 22Post Graduate Diploma in Science 12Total 496
The table below shows the number of in-service workshops and training organized at the national level from 2002 - 2011.
Since 1995, the Ministry has provided opportunities for in-service teachers to upgrade their qualifications by sitting for the national level examinations as private candidates. In December 2012, 46 will avail this opportunity.
Table 9.6 Teacher graduate by various degrees and qualifications, 2004-2012
Year of Gradua-
tion
B.Ed (P) M.Ed B.Ed
(S)BE.d (D)
Bachelor's Degree
Diploma in Other
FieldPGDE
Masters in other
field
Other Cer-
tificate courses
Ph.D
2012 207 85 39 128 12
2011 195 1 230 76 67 26 15
2010 256 1 197 61 1 61 29 2
2009 190 164 16 72 97 43 8
2008 228 3 142 7 9 1 36 23 16 2
2007 256 4 134 9 8 1 47 23 2
2006 211 6 140 8 5 21 37 1
2005 137 4 39 6 4 28 21 1
2004 56 5 61 4 1 28 21 197 1
Table 9.5 Number of Teachers who have upgraded their qualifications
Year BHSEC ILCS ICSE Total Remarks
2012 38 8 46 Enrolled for examination
2011 45 10 55 Enrolled for examination
2010 83 16 99 Enrolled for examination
2009 110 40 150 Enrolled for examination
2008 330 116 1 447 Enrolled for examination
2007 203 40 1 244 Appeared for examination
2006 267 36 303 Enrolled for examination
2005 190 54 1 225 Enrolled for examination
2004 91 10 1 102 Appeared for examination
2003 103 14 2 119 Appeared for examination
Since 2000, in-service teachers have had the opportunity to upgrade their qualifications to Bachelors of Education (B.Ed) in primary education via a distance education programme. In 2002, a Masters of Education programme was also started at the Paro College of Education using the same mode. Table 9.6 shows the number of graduates so far.
Table 9.3 Number of teachers who have been awarded with various Degrees 2011
9.3 ACADEMIC PROFILE OF TEACHERS
This programme is in great demand, especially after a first degree became an official requirement for advancing in one’s career. The Distance B.Ed is facilitated from Samtse College of Education, and the Distance M.Ed from Paro College of Education. Participating teachers are offered classes during the winter break and offered remote education during the academic year. In that sense, both programmes are mixed mode degrees rather than distance education.
Out of a total of 7932 teachers, 87% are trained in the teaching profession. 55% of our teachers have at least a Bachelors Degree. In addition, about 9% of the teachers have a PG Diploma. Less than 3% of the teachers have only a class 10 or 12 certificate as of current statistics.
There is a comparatively low percentage of the teachers with a Masters and Ph.D Degree. 13 % of teachers were reported not to have been trained in the teaching profession but have been appointed based on need.
Table 9.7 Number of trained teachers by degree, March 2012
10.1 STUDENT-TEACHER RATIOThe student-teacher ratio (STR) measures the number of students per teacher. It reflects teacher workload and the availability of teachers’ services to their students. The lower the STR, the higher the availability of teacher services to students. The STR has implications not only for the
Figure 10.1 Teacher-pupil ratio by Dzongkhag below and above mean
24 25
15
20 1922 21 20 20
25
30
2421
1721 22
16
2724
18
22
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Bum
than
gCh
hukh
aD
agan
aG
asa
Haa
Lhue
ntse
Mon
gar
Paro
P G
atsh
elPu
nakh
aS
Jong
khar
Sam
tse
Sarp
ang
TThr
omTh
imph
uTg
ang
Tyan
gtse
Tron
gsa
Tsira
ngW
Phod
rang
Zhem
gang
QUALITY INDICATORS
cost of education, but also for the quality. The relationship between these two measures of teacher workload is affected by a variety of factors, including the number of classes for which a teacher is responsible and the number of classes taken by students.
Table 10.1 Teacher pupil ratio in schools by location in 2012
Level of Schools Difficult Remote Semi-Remote
Semi-Urban Urban Very
Remote Total
Higher Secondary Schools 23 22 24 12 13 21
Lower Secondary Schools 30 24 24 29 20 25 25
Middle Secondary Schools 37 23 22 28 26 19 23
Primary Schools 18 21 21 21 22 20 21
Extended Class-rooms 17 27 26 23 22 19 22
Total 22 22 22 25 22 21 22
Nationwide, the STR is now at 22 students per teacher (see table 8.1 above) on average. The decrease in STR has been accompanied by uneven progress among the different categories of schools and Dzongkhags, with a standard deviation of 3.51 and median of 21 at the Dzongkhag level. On average the
ratio has improved in all Dzongkhags. Also averages of more than 50 for a certain type of school in a Dzongkhag no longer occurs as was the case in previous years. The figure below shows the ratios by Dzongkhag.
Though the national average student- teacher ratio is low, it is accompanied by high standard deviation of 12.3 indicating a a very high and uneven distribution of teachers among the schools and Dzongkhags with some having very high STR and some very low STR.
Standard deviation is a measure of the variability or dispersion within a dataset. A low standard deviation indicates that the data points tend to be very close to the mean i.e. evenly or uniformly distributed, while a high standard deviation indicates that the data are “spread out” over a large range of values ( data is not evenly distributed).
The STR in Trongsa is 16 (Lowest ratio apart from Gasa,) while it is 30 (highest ratio) in
Samtse, The variation is very high at the school level. We focus on school rather then Dzongkhag because the latter would miss the potentially large differences among schools within Dzongkhag in terms of teacher distribution. The STR ranges from 2 to 61; which means that some remote schools have ratios as less as 2 while other have STR as high as 61.
The tenth FYP envisages that all schools will be staffed with a minimum STR of 1:24 and that all schools have at least two teachers.
The following figure shows the STR by dzongkhag who have achieved the target of 1:24.
Figure 10.2 Student-Teacher Ratio by Dzongkhag above and below 24
18
24 25
15
20 1922 21 20 20
25
30
2421
1721 22
16
2724
18
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Bum
than
gCh
hukh
aDa
gana
Gas
aHa
aLh
uent
seM
onga
rPa
roP/
Gat
shel
Puna
kha
S/Jo
ngkh
arSa
mts
eSa
rpan
gTh
imth
rom
Thim
phu
T/ga
ngT/
yang
tse
Tron
gsa
Tsira
ngW
/ Pho
dran
gZh
emga
ng
Figure 10.3 Division of student-teacher ratio
As can be seen from the above figure most dzongkhag have more or less achieved the target of STR of 1:24 except for Chukha, Punakha, Trongsa and Samdrupjongkhar. About 49% of schools have reported to have STR less than 20 while only 6 schools reported STR of less than 1:6
Table 10.2 gives the teacher-pupil ratio for different school levels by location. It shows that, on average, the highest ratios are found in the remote and very remote schools. The table includes private schools which are mainly in the urban category. It is interesting to note that the ratio in the PSs has dropped since last year.
Table 10.2 Number of schools with different STR by different level
Range ECR PS LSS MSS HSS Total
1-20 58 217 17 19 22 333
20-24 11 71 33 19 17 151
25-30 10 38 26 14 7 95
30-40 12 27 11 3 2 55
40-50 3 11 6 20above 50 8 4 1 13
It is interesting to also note that about over 41% of remote schools reported to have STR of less than 20 against that of only 35% of urban schools. About 74% of schools have reported to have reached the target of STR 1:24 with most of them located in the remote areas mostly PSs.
About 50% of the schools have a STR between 1 and 20. A significant number of PSs also have a low ratio. This is because PSs are usually established in smaller communities, where multi-grade strategies have to be adopted. If we exclude the PSs, 62 public schools have a STR of less than 20, while more than 111 schools have a student -teacher ratio of over 30.
Table 10.3 shows the number of schools per Dzongkhag that have a STR lower than or equal to 24 and schools that have a STR higher than 24. In Gasa, Haa and Thimphu Dzongkhag all schools have a Teacher: Pupil ratio in line with the Royal Government target, while Trongsa and Trashi yangtse are almost nearing the target ratio. Trashigang and Pemagatshel has the highest number of schools that have reached the target. Chukha and Samtse have comparatively high number of school that still has to reach the target ratio.
Table 10.3 Target STR reached per Dzongkhag, March 2012
In March 2012, 13 PSs and 71 Extended Classrooms reported they had only 1 teacher. Of these, 1 PS and 32 Extended Classrooms reported to have an enrolment of more than 25 students. The policy is to have a maximum of 25 students in a MG situation. Nine Extended Classroomss each with 1 teacher and an enrolment of more than 25 opened this year.
10.2 CLASS SIZE
In addition to the student-teacher ratio, another proxy indicator that gives some insight into the quality of education is the number of students per class or student: section ratio. Student-teacher ratio and class size are not same. This assumes that every section in a school is a different class. Table 10.5 shows the class size per section per school. It shows that in urban and semi-urban areas the classes are crowded. It also shows that the classes in the Lower Secondary, Middle Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools are more crowded
The figure below gives the changes in STR over the years. It shows a steady decline in the primary and lower secondary schools, with the rate of decrease slowing down for the last 3 to 4 years. The ratio in the middle & higher secondary schools has been stable over the last few years.
Table 10.4 Student-Teacher Ratio in Schools per Dzongkhag per type of school 2010-2012
than the Primary Schools. Primary schools have on average the smallest class sizes, however multi-grade teaching is adopted as a strategy in these schools.
The differences between the regions and school types are considerable. The Dzongkhag with large class sizes last year have all improved a bit, despite increases in enrolment. The average class size in all schools is 26 or less. The average class size for Bhutan has reduced to 22 indicating that the school system has been able to accommodate the increasing enrolment.
Table 10.5 Class size per location per school, March 2012Urban Semi-Urban Semi-Remote Remote Very-Remote Difficult Average
One of the targets in Tenth Plan is that all schools maintain a class size of 30-36 students in regular schools and 20 students in smaller schools with multi-grade teaching. Currently about 53% of schools have achieved the target of maintaining class sizes at 30-36 students. The remaining 47% of schools have average class sizes exceeding or below the target, indicating either over-crowded classrooms or wastage. About 15% of schools have class sizes of less than 20 while more than 10% of schools
have class size above 60s. Most PSs have class size of less than 20.
But, as school improvement ideas go, reducing class sizes is costlier than others and usually more complicated than it appears.
Table 10.6 shows by Dzongkhag how many schools have average class sizes smaller than, equal to or larger than 30 students per class.
The efficiency of the Education System can be monitored by efficiency indicators such as repetition rate, dropout rate, promotion rate and survival rate at various levels of education.
The Net and Gross enrolment (NER and GER) and intake ratios (AIR) indicate access to education. The efficiency indicators and the access indicators together give quantitative information on the quality of the system. If children come to school, remain in school and do not repeat too much, it gives an indication of the accessibility and the efficiency of the system.
However, as we near universal primary education, it is imperative to devise innovative programmes and create facilities to enroll the population group that are not so visible at present. Currently, the Ministry of Education has adopted Extended Classroomss (ECRs) to reach the unreached and fast track promotion of over-aged children to reduce classroom congestion and discourage dropouts to some extent. Similarly, the Dzongkhag Administrations
Table 10.6 Schools by Average Class size per Dzongkhag, March 2012
have also designed their own strategies and programme to track out-of- school children and enroll them in schools to achieve 100 percent Net Enrolment Ratio by 2013.
Such initiatives have contributed in reduction of dropout and repetition rates over the past few years. It is essential to eliminate drop out or reduce the dropout rate to 0% at the Primary Education level in order to achieve the goal of 100% NER. Moreover it is also essential to ensure that every citizen of Bhutan completes at least the primary education cycle to ensure literacy and numeracy. It is estimated that within the 9th FYP period, around 10,000 children have left the education system illiterate.
The figures below shows that repetition and dropout rates have gone down considerably since 2002 by about 13 and 5 percent with an annual decrease of about 7 and 3 percent respectively.
PP I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX XRepeaters 0.05 0.05 0.06 0.05 0.08 0.05 0.04 0.06 0.03 0.04 0Dropouts 0 0 0 0 0.01 0 0 0.01 0.02 0.1 0.29
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
Though the reduction in the average dropout and repetition rates seem to be progressing toward the Ministry’s Tenth Plan commitment, in specific grades both these efficiency indicators remain undesirably high.
As can be seen in the above figure, the repetition and dropout rates are very high in class IV and VII, and these have also been observed in previous annual education statistics reports. While studies to understand this spike in repetition and dropout in these two grades have not been conducted, we know that schools terminate at grade III (17PS & 24 ECRs) and grade VI (336 PS), thus
requiring many children to walk longer distances the following year to their new schools or to live separately from their families –for the first time for many - in boarding schools to continue their education. Moreover additional subjects are introduced in grades IV and VII. These two reasons amongst others may be responsible for the spike in repetition and dropout rates in these two grades. The drop-out rate in class IX has also increased. It is quite surprising to see that there is no dropout in class PP, I, III and VI, while this may be a statistical error; it is quite impressive to see 100% retention in these levels. The total number of drop-outs is lower than last year.
Figure 11.3 Primary Repetition and dropout rates by class and gender
5% 6%7%
6%
9%
6%
4%4% 5% 5%
4%
6%
4%3%
0%1%2%3%4%5%6%7%8%9%
10%
PP I II III IV V VIMale Female
0% 0%
1%
0%
2%
1%
0%0% 0% 0% 0%
1%
0% 0%0%
1%
1%
2%
2%
3%
PP I II III IV V VIMale Female
Repetition Dropout
On the whole girls seem to be doing much better in terms of promotion and exhibit lower rate of repetition and dropout compared to boys at the primary level.
The Royal Government has initiated a provision of fast tracking or promoting of students in order to enable students who are over aged and who have better learning abilities beyond their cohorts to advance to higher levels on merit basis. This is expected to induce healthy competition around the year and also provide much needed confidence to learners who are competitive and also cater to the needs of the fast learners.
It is worth mentioning here that such initiatives have been one of the factors contributing to the reduction of overage and under aged children enrolling in school.
We have seen a reduction from 60% of overage children in PP-III in 2009 to 48% in 2012. There is also a decrease of 4 percentage points with regard to primary underage students as compared to last year (from 12% to 8% in 2012)
The proportion of right aged enrolment has also increased compared to last year from 79% to 81% this year and a decrease of about 1% of underage proportion as compared to last year, whether this would be the trend or not can be seen next year.
The figure below shows the Division of Primary enrolment by age
11.1.2. Fast Track Promotion of Over-aged Students
Figure 11.4 Primary enrolment (PP-VI)
11.2. Completion rates
The completion rate for primary and basic education indicate how many children actually complete education. This indicator, which monitors education system coverage and student progression, is intended to measure human capital formation and school system quality and efficiency.
The Gross Intake Ratio for the last grade of the education cycle is used. Figure 11.5 gives the completion rates for 2006 to 2012 for primary and basic education. Compared to last year, the completion rate has gone up significantly at both the primary as well as basic level with an increase of 14 and 2 percentage point respectively.
Figure 11.5 Primary and Basic completion rates since 2006
The current statistics shows that almost 100% of children complete primary education. i.e. almost all the children who enter school complete primary education, and about 3
out of every 4 complete basic education (PP-X). There are no gender gaps, with both boys and girls having equal probability of completing the primary education.
11.4. Internal efficiency measuresThe coefficient of internal efficiency for basic education reveals the efficiency of the Bhutanese education system. The coefficient has increased by about 17% since 2004, and about 4% since last year, displaying an increased internal efficiency.
The survival rate to the last grade of primary school is an official indicator to track progress toward the second UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which calls for universal primary education by the year 2015. The survival rate to the last grade is the percentage of a cohort of students who enter the first grade of primary education and who are expected to reach the last grade, regardless of repetition.
Table 11.1 compares the indicator ‘survivors to the grade’ for the last seven years. Since 2005 gender disaggregated data is available. Similar to the previous years, the girls seem to be performing very well as compared to boys in terms of survival. On average 2005 was a weak
89%83%
90% 92%97% 99%
92% 95% 96% 95% 98% 100%
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Survial to the Grade 5
Boys Girls
11.3. Trends in Survival rates
Figure 11.6 Survival to the grade V and grade X
The survival rate to grade V and grade X has improved between 2006 and 2012. For all children, the survival rate grew from 91% and 71.9% to 100% and 95% percent respectively. Compared to boys, girls have more probabil-ity of advancing to the fifth and tenth grade. Generally there are more females participat-ing at Primary to Middle Secondary level than males, this pattern shifts at the Higher Sec-ondary level where there are more males than female learners.
The Net Primary Enrolment Ratio (NPER) has increased rapidly within a very short period, from 53% in 1998 to 95.7 % in 2012 (exclud-ing children studying abroad and enrolled in monasteries). In addition to the Royal Govern-ment’s commitment to education, the rapid improvement in NER can also be attributed to increased private participation, as seen by the fact that private school enrolment makes up 3 percent of the total primary enrolment.
year, and it is fair to say that for the last 7 years, 63 to 80% of all the children starting PP will eventually graduate. The survival incidence for girls is much higher than boys, which means that more female students who enter PP are likely to reach the last grade as compared to boys. Some more years of gender disaggregated data is required to analyze the gender differences. Since Bhutan has a small education system individual incidences have a great impact, while quite often they may not be indicators of a trend.
PP I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X
Both Sexes
Survivors to the grade 2011 1,000 1000 1000 996 996 983 983 983 973 953 851
Survivors to the grade 2010 1,000 971 971 971 971 941 933 933 913 910 850
Survivors to the grade 2009 1,000 967 955 943 936 898 869 857 808 802 802
Survivors to the grade 2008 1,000 1000 987 974 964 933 899 882 841 819 777
Survivors to the grade 2007 1,000 986 967 942 924 887 854 839 786 757 701
Survivors to the grade 2006 1,000 997 988 962 954 911 874 856 808 786 720
Survivors to the grade 2005 1,000 1,000 980 947 932 886 844 815 750 720 682
Boys
Survivors to the grade 2011 1,000 1000 1000 987 987 968 962 962 946 930 838
Survivors to the grade 2010 1,000 966 966 966 966 936 912 912 892 892 837
Survivors to the grade 2009 1,000 973 952 933 918 865 823 804 760 760 760
Survivors to the grade 2008 1,000 997 981 960 939 902 851 832 788 780 753
Survivors to the grade 2007 1,000 979 950 919 882 831 790 767 717 684 645
Survivors to the grade 2006 1,000 1,000 988 959 948 894 844 815 781 762 713
Survivors to the grade 2005 1,000 999 979 937 913 862 811 775 710 681 657
Girls
Survivors to the grade 2011 1,000 1000 1000 1000 1000 992 992 992 989 966 854
Survivors to the grade 2010 1,000 976 976 975 975 945 945 945 925 917 852
Survivors to the grade 2009 1,000 961 957 952 952 929 914 909 855 842 842
Survivors to the grade 2008 1,000 1,000 991 986 986 962 945 930 894 856 797
Survivors to the grade 2007 1,000 993 985 968 968 946 922 916 861 837 760
Survivors to the grade 2006 1,000 982 976 953 948 918 895 887 824 800 717
Survivors to the grade 2005 1,000 1,000 980 957 950 911 877 857 793 763 707
Table 11.1 Survivors to the grade 2005-2011 (both sexes, boys, girls)
From the above table, we could derive that almost 98% of children enrolled in grade PP reach the last grade of Primary, about 14% jump since 2005. This shows the positive impact of the primary education system in Bhutan. There are no major gender disparities between boys and girls, with girls sometimes doing better than boys in terms of enrolment. In fact girls have been doing much better then boys for the past 7 years. Although there is
11.5 EXAMINATION RESULTS
The national level examinations at the end of Primary Education were instituted in 1972 with the aim of ensuring uniformity in the standard of education among the different schools across the country. It was also used as a criterion for screening the candidates for entry into the next level of general education. With the upgrading of the basic education level to class X, this examination no longer serves as a screening mechanism but provides feedback to the Ministry on the quality and standard of education in the different schools across the country.
The annual increase in the number of students appearing for exams has been very steady. Given the increased enrolment in primary and secondary education, the annual number of Class X graduates is likely
room to improve the data quality for this indicator, the general trend in the last seven years is that more children who start primary are reaching grade 7 (Class VI).
The recent statistics show a significant increase in the number of students completing basic education, 85% (850 of every 1,000 student who enroll in grade PP) graduate.
Table 11.2 Coefficient of internal efficiency in the basic eduction
Survivors to the Grade 1,000.0 1,000.0 1,000.0 1,000.0 1,000.0 992.1 992.1 992.1 988.7 965.8 853.9 588.6
Average study time at Grade 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 11.5
Pupil-years invested per Graduate 19.1
Coefficient of Internal Efficiency 57.5%
For many students the class X examinations marks the end of their general education careers. Non-successful students re-appear the examinations as supplementary candidates and do not attend regular classes in government schools due to lack of space and over-crowding. However, these conditions may not apply to cases where students were sick or have valid reasons for not appearing the examinations. Figure 11. 7 below reflect the results of regular candidates since 2000.
Figure 11.7 Class X passed trend since 2000
to keep increasing. A total of 10,190 candidates sat for the Bhutan Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (BCSE) in December 2011. The overall pass percentage was 97%, which is about
The policy of the Ministry of Education is to provide primary schooling within easy walking distance, in order to allow children to attend school near their homes. However, given the mountainous terrain, the dispersed settlement patterns of the population and resource constraints, some children have to enroll in primary schools more distant from their homes as day scholars, or as boarders. At the secondary levels, due to economy of scale issues, many children have to study as boarders in schools which are distant from their homes.
This is made possible, largely due to the provision of meals through the school feeding program which is supported by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Royal Government. Approximately 33,000 students or 24% of students in classes PP-VIII receive two meals a day from the WFP. Out of these, 10% or 13,686 students are boarding students
3% increase from 2008. A total of about 7,332 students have been admitted in class XI in Bhutan this year. i.e about 71%, of which 40% are enrolled in public schools and 31% in private schools. The remaining 29% might be either continuing their education in private schools within Bhutan and schools outside Bhutan, or enrolled in the VTIs or joined the labour force.
Figure 11.8 gives a more detailed overview of what happens with the class X students of 2011 in 2012.
11.5.2 CLASS XII EXAMINATIONSIn 2006 the Bhutan Board of Examinations took over the conduct of the class XII exams from the Council for Indian Secondary Certificate Examinations (CISCE).
Figure 11.9 Class XII passed trend since 2002
The number of students appearing for the class XII examinations has increased substantially compared to last year. This might be due to increase in Private and Supplementary candidates. The pass percentage however has been showing a decrease over the last few years, as you could see from the above figure. One reason cited is the introduction of the new curriculum in English and Business Mathematics. However, this is just an assumption, and a comprehensive study is needed to validate these assumptions.
and therefore also receive a stipend of Nu 240 per month per student from the RGoB to cover the third meal.
In classes IX -XII, there are 13,491 boarding students (or 35% of total students) supported with a stipend of Nu 700 by the RGoB for all three meals. As of July 2012, the stipend will be increased to Nu 1000 per month per student for three meals.
All together, there are about 46,401 (26% of all students) students who benefit from the school feeding programme from classes PP-XII. The success of the Education System in rapidly increasing school enrolment over a short period of time can be attributed to the provision of free food and boarding facilities provided based on need.
Total Feeding Students 7,255 25,004 6,431 7,906 8,675 4,816 46,401
% of total stu-dents 7% 23% 23% 28% 38% 32% 26%
Table 12.2 Number of schools offering Day feeding and boarding services and the beneficiaries by level of schools
Day feeding Boarding
No. of schools offering Day feeding Enrolment No. of schools offering
boarding facillities Enrolment
Primary Schools 139 12901 43 3743
Lower Secondary schools 34 5670 37 6654
Middle Secondary schools 7 531 28 8385
Higher Secondary schools 2 122 25 8395
Total 182 19224 133 27177
In the appendix an overview of the WFP-supported schools per Dzongkhag is given. (Annex 5)
To provide quality education it is important that facilities in the school are adequate and up to date. In this chapter the status of some of these facilities viz. water provision, electricity, telephone connection, laboratories, computers and classrooms, as reported by the schools is reflected.
EDUCATION FACILITIES
Based on the reports from the schools with regard to the sufficiency of water supply, an analysis has been made of the on the water facillities in our schools as shown below in table 13.1.
13.1 WATER FACILITIES IN SCHOOLS
Table 13.1 Water facilities in the schools, March 2012
stAtus
No tapstand 1 or more tapstands
Sufficient Water supply
Insufficient Water Supply
Sufficient Water supply
Insufficient Water Supply
Public 6 28 308 185
Private 26 26
Total 6 54 334 185
About 61% of the schools reported to have sufficient water supply, the same percentage for day school and 46% for boarding schools. Around 46 boarding schools reported to have insufficient water supply, while 11 of these boarding schools had no tap stands for their students.
When analyzing the water supply situation
for day schools without tap stands, it was found that around half of them have a source or stream, especially the remote schools. Most of the water problems in schools are to do with their source.
The table 13.2 shows the average number of tap stands available for students by Dzongkhag.
Table 13.2: Student-tap stand ratio by Dzongkhag for schools with tap stands, March 2012
dzonGkhAGWithout
tapstand
Schools with tapstand
No. of school Student:Tapstand ratioBumthang 0 19 227Chukhaa 5 37 465
Dagana 1 22 342
Gasa 1 3 248
Haa 0 9 333
Lhuentse 1 26 153
Mongar 3 48 217
Paro 0 23 490
P/Gatshel 1 28 229
Punakha 1 19 422
s/jongkhar 1 27 338
Samtse 6 24 652
Sarpang 1 21 542
Thim Throm 1 29 809
Thimphu 2 8 343
Trashigang 1 59 214
T/Yangtse 1 29 208
Trongsa 3 21 158
Tsirang 2 13 467
Wangdue 2 24 350
Zhemgang 1 30 161
Figure 13.1 Total Student per class
49%
18%
13%
5%
15%
Less than 20 20-30 30-36 37-40 Above 40
The number of classrooms available in a school is another facility that influences the quality of education. Some schools face shortage of classrooms and have to operate shift systems.
Figure 13.1 shows the availability of classrooms. Collecting information on classrooms was more difficult as there are many types of classrooms (temporary, semi-permanent, permanent) and opinions on the category and utility of classrooms differ
based on context and level. Therefore, the information reported here may not be 100 percent accurate.
Analysis of the information, as in figure 13.1, indicates that most of the schools that gave information have enough classrooms. Only 15% of schools reported to have more than 40 students per class.
13.2 PROVISION OF CLASSROOMS, LABORATORIES AND COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS
One of the targets in the 10th Plan is to achieve
class size of 30-36, while 80% of school has
already achieved the target; in fact more than 65% of these schools are below the target line with less than 30 students per class. As you see from the above figure almost 49% of schools have less than 20 students per class of
which most of these schools are located in the public remote and semi remote schools. And some 12 schools reported to have class size of 80 and above. These schools are also located in the remote areas.
13.2.1. Laboratories in schools
Another basic minimum facility that is required in the schools is a laboratory. Classes VII and VIII require a general science laboratory, while classes IX and above require separate laboratories for physics, chemistry, and biology. A computer laboratory is also required for class IX and above.
Table 13.3 shows the current provision of laboratories in the schools. A word of caution is required with regard to data-collection. It is unclear regarding the usage of existing classrooms in the absence of dedicated laboratories.
Table 13.3 Laboratory by level of school, public schools, March 2012
From the above we can see that 39 higher secondary schools have fully equipped science laboratories as well as computer laboratories. Additionally 7 HSS also have an additional general science laboratory. Two Middle secondary schools do not have a laboratory at all as they have only recently
been upgraded. The same is true for the lower secondary schools. Due to admission pressure so many schools were upgraded before putting in adequate facilities. This is one of the main challenges for the 10th FYP.
Information and Communication Technology Education (ICT) and ICT in Education has been introduced in schools at all levels with the aim to build the capacity of Bhutan’s educational system to deploy Information Technology for independent learning and life-long learning skills. In view of this, ICT in schools is to be used as a pedagogical tool to create a stimulating and empowering classroom learning experience. The ultimate aim is to ensure the pervasive and effective use of IT in Education. One of the goals of the 10th
The priority after the provision of basic facilities like water and classrooms is to ensure that schools have access to electricity, a working telephone-line and a working internet connection. This paragraph describes the current situation with regard to these facilities.
For the schools at level VII and higher being connected is very important and computers and laboratories need electricity.
Table 13.5: Electricity connectivity, per level, March 2012
lEvEl
Schools with electricity connectivity
TotalYes No % Yes
Pu
blIc
PS 226 118 66% 344
LSS 81 12 87% 93
MSS 50 6 89% 56
HSS 34 0 100% 34
Sub-Total 391 136 74% 527
PrivatePS 9 100% 9
LSS 1 100% 1
MSS 2 100% 2
HSS 14 100% 14
Sub- Total 26 100% 26
Total 417 136 75% 553
Almost over 65% of the public PSs have electricity. While it is not clear whether the question of access to electricity may have been interpreted as including access to solar power, the data shows that a lot of areas in
FYP is to equip all Higher and most Middle Secondary Schools with computers.
IT literacy is also an invaluable asset to students for their future careers and Computer Science and Computer Applications courses in secondary level of education are offered, IT teachers continue to be trained, and schools are provided with computer laboratories and computer laboratory assistants, along with both hardware and software for IT education. Table 13.4 shows the current status of this programme.
Table 13.4 Computers in the schools, March 2012
lEvEl
With Computer Without computerNo. school No of computers Average Computer per
All Higher Secondary Schools have computers, with an average of 19 per school. Of the 58 Middle Secondary Schools, 56 have computers, with an average of 21 computers per school.
At the PS and LSS level the number of computers is less. On average, the schools
that have computers, have just a few and these are probably used by the office staff. Quite a number of Primary Schools have computers (including 54 OLPC Laptop), given the fact that a lot of them are in remote places, and some do not have access to electricity.
Bhutan are not yet electrified. As of recent statistics it is reported that almost about 75% of schools in Bhutan are electrified, i.e. 7 % increase since last year. While 25% of schools are still not connected to electricity which includes remote, very remote and difficult schools. Almost all the HSS and MSS are reported to have the electricity connection as of March 2012.
Telephone access is another important facility which is necessary for ensuring communication between parents and the school, between the school and the Dzongkhag and central administration etc. This can also benefit the larger community in case of remote schools.
Table 13.6: Schools with working landline phone per category, March 2012
cAtEGoryWorking Landline Phone
Yes No % Yes Total
Public
Urban Grade 2 76 0 100% 76
Semi-Urban 18 4 82% 22
Remote 120 44 73% 164Semi-remote 73 11 87% 84
Very Re-mote 73 34 68% 107
Difficult 49 25 66% 74Sub-Total 409 118 78% 527
Private
Urban Grade 1 2 100% 2
Urban Grade 2 19 100% 19
Semi-Urban 1 100% 1
Semi Remote 3 100% 3Very remote 1 100% 1
Sub-Total 26 100% 26
Total 435 118 79% 553
13.3 ELECTRICITY, TELEPHONE AND INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
78% of the public schools in Bhutan report that they have a working landline phone. Even in the more remote areas around 68% of the schools can be contacted through telephone. Almost all the Middle Secondary and Higher Secondary School have the telephone connection.
Internet facilities are now increasingly being introduced in our schools. Most schools with internet are connected via dial-up. However, this is not adequate for schools and a few Middle and Higher Secondary Schools are now moving from dial-up to lease-lines.
Further IT facilities in schools are being enhanced with training of IT laboratory assistants in setting up and maintenance of Local Area Networks (LAN).
Table 13.7: Internet connectivity per level, March 2012
From the above table we could see that 88% of private schools are connected to the internet while only 36% of the public schools have that access, an improvement of about 5% since last year. However 97% of Public HSS have access to internet while only 32% of PS have access.
13.4 ROAD ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility by road is another very important indicator. While it has less to do with the quality of education, it enables supply of goods and materials and facilitates the movement of teachers and students. About 65% of our schools have access to road.
Road access per Dzongkhag is reflected in table 13.8; Apart from Thim Throm, about 90% of schools in Bumthang have road access, followed by Punakha and Paro with 84 and 83 percent respectively. Schools in Zhemgang show low road connectivity followed by P/Gatshel, Samdrupjongkhar, Gasa, Lhuentse and Mongar with only 40-55% of schools connected to road.
The Bhutanese education system is built upon the concept of free services from primary to tertiary level. Students are not only given free tuition but also provided with many facilities viz. stationary, textbooks, sports-items and boarding facilities and food based on need. The policy trend during the
14
2 Source: 2011-2012 National budget report
of Curriculum Research and Development for which Nu. 39.391m was budgeted.
Further, in order to ensure the quality of edu-cation, and assure independent assessment of the education system, the examinations board, formerly called the Bhutan Board of Examina-tions was renamed the Bhutan Council for School Examination and Assessment (BCSEA), and delinked from the Ministry of Education. A budget of Nu. 66.670 m was provided in the FY 2011-12 for the BCSEA.
The Royal Government provides numerous scholarships for Bhutanese students to pursue higher education outside Bhutan. This is a major programme of the Ministry and in the FY 2011-12, a total of Nu. 284.134 m was allocat-ed.The education sector budget also included a provision of Nu. 82.429 m for the Royal Educa-tion Council to carry out the on-going projects for improving the quality of education.
A budget of Nu. 43.950 m was kept for the Royal Institute of Management for the con-struction of conference block, IT library, renovation of auditorium and procurement of teaching aid. Nu. 21.531 m was kept for Dzongkha Development Commission for activi-ties geared towards Zhungkha education. The education sector’s budget also includes Nu 1,333.485 m for the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB). The RUB has been made autonomous and the system of its operational expenses was based on a per student fee-system.
On the whole, a total budget of Nu. 6,957.711 m including Nu. 3,917.094 m for recurrent expenditure was allocated for the education sector for FY 2011-12.
BUDGET AND
EXPENDITURESON EDUCATION
last few years is, however, to work towards cost-sharing with parents, especially amongst those populations that are in a position to do so. Accordingly students studying in the urban areas have had to buy their own stationeries since 1993.
In general, all students are required to contribute to a School Development Fund at the following rates:− Primary Schools Nu 30/- per student per annum− Lower Secondary Schools Nu 100/- per student per annum− Middle and Higher Secondary Schools Nu 200/- per student per annum
14.1 FREE SERVICES AND SHARING OF COSTS
14.2 ANNUAL BUDGETThe Government stands committed in its conviction that improving education will en-hance prospects to further socio-economic development. Accordingly, the sector has always received a high share of the total al-location. In the 10th FYP too, it received the highest individual sector share amounting to 17% of the total outlay2.
Among many programmes, the MoE has embarked upon a programme to improve the quality of education in line with the project Accelerating Bhutan’s Socio-eco-
nomic Development (ABSD). Some of the areas of improvement include the develop-ment of curriculum, competency-based testing, in-service education of teachers, development of education qualification framework for all awards/ programmes, school assessment and performance systems training to DEOs and ADEOs and training of School Principals. For these initiatives, a budget provision of Nu. 11.700 m was pro-vided in FY 2011-12.
Further, the Curriculum Division in the Minis-try has been upgraded to the Department
The estimated per head cost by school levels as given in table 14.3
Table 14.2 : Estimated cost per student, May 2011*
Schools & Institute under the Ministry of Education Cost per student per annum (in Nu)
Primary Schools 12,382 a) Day Scholars 12,329 b) Boarders 21,200
Lower Secondary Schools 19,396 a) Day Scholars 14,952 b) Boarders 26,621
Middle Secondary Schools 46,007 a) Day Scholars 35,797 b) Boarders 53,549
Higher Secondary Schools 55,021 a) Day Scholars 48,844 b) Boarders 62,333
National Institute for Visually Impaired 158,838 Institutes & Colleges under Royal University of BhutanCollege of Natural Resources, Lobesa 208,609 College of Science and Technology, Rinchhending 77,851 Institute of Language and Culture Studies, Semtokha 67,258 Jigme Namgyel Polytechnic, Dewathang 67,184 National Institute of Traditional Medicine, Thimphu 203,294 Paro College of Education, Paro 56,912 Royal Institute of Health Sciences, Thimphu 74,634 Samtse College of Education, Samtse 68,129 Sherubtse College, Kanglung 63,354 Gaeddug College of Business Studies 50,508 Total 68,523 Institutes under the MoLHRKhuruthang Vocational Training Institute 72,517 Ranjung Vocational Training Institute 70,995 Sherzhong Vocational Training Institute 138,635 Chumey Vocational Training Institute 172,432 Samthang Vocational Training Institute 56,183 Institute of Automibile Engineering 156,579 National Institute for Zorig Chusum 106,012 Trashiyangtse Institute for Zorig Chusum 101,226
Primary aged not in school 3852 4% 1426 2% 2348 3% 1807 1.9%
* assuming 0.04% of primary aged children are abroad from BMIS 2012 2005 2010
** Source: Dratshang Lhentshog, MoHCA
Table A4.6 Class XII results, 2011 Table A4.10 Completion Rate for Primary and Basic education New Entrants Correct Age Completion rateVI X 12 16 Primary Basic
2012 14,557 10,483 12464 14120 117% 74%
2011 13,300 10,311 12859 14274 103% 72%
2010 13,259 10,253 13,541 14,029 97.9% 73.1%
2009 12,451 8,705 13,814 14,645 90.1% 59.4%
2008 12,246 7,870 14,127 14,577 86.7% 54.0%
2007 11,474 7,619 15,131 15,404 75.8% 49.5%
2006 11,331 6,828 14,789 16,039 76.6% 42.6%
Table A4.11 Right age, underage and overage details by class 2012.
PP I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII
Right Age 51.6% 42.5% 35.9% 30.6% 26.3% 23.7% 22.3% 19.5% 20.0% 18.9% 19.2% 21.9% 19.0%
Extended Classrooms established in 2012Dzongkhag # School Level Parent School RemarkChukha 1 Totogom ECR Chungkha PS Downgraded from PSGasa 2 Mendrelthang ECR Lunana PS New
Haa 2 Bebji ECR Sombeykha PS Shifted from Thangdokha ECR3 Shaba- Shebji ECR Sombeykha PS New
Lhuentse 4 Pam ECR Ladrong PS New
Paro 5 Nabesa ECR Shaba PS Downgraded from PS6 Jishigang ECR Gaupey LSS New
Pemagatshel 7 Dagor ECR Tshatsi PS Downgraded from PS8 Resinang ECR Gonpasingma PS Downgraded from PS
Punakha 9 Tahogang ECR Thinleygang PS Downgraded from PS10 Phulusu ECR Logodama PS Downgraded from PS
Annex 4. Organogram The Ministry is headed by a Minister. The Minister is supported by the Ministry Secretariat, headed by a Secretary. The Secretariat comprises of the following divisions
a) Administrative and Finance Division (AFD)
b) Human Resource Division (HRD)
c) Policy and Planning Division (PPD)
d) Information and Communication Division (ICD)
e) National Commission for UNESCO
f) Internal Audit Unit (IA)
There had been changes in the structure of the Ministry as a result of the creation of a new department and Divisions and expansion of existing divisions. This has been done to enable the Ministry to respond effectively to the demands and challenges arising from the ever growing education system. The Ministry now comprises of four Departments namely the Department of School Education, Department of Youth and Sports, Department of Adult and Higher Education and Department of Curriculum Research and Development (formerly known as CAPSD). Furthermore, the Bhutan Board of Examinations has been reconstituted as the Bhutan Council for School Examinations and Assessment (BCSEA) and delinked from the Ministry to function as an autonomous agency.
The Department of School Education is organized into six Divisions. The Divisions are the School Liaison and Coordination Division(SLCD), the School Agriculture, Feeding and Environment (SAFED), the Education Monitoring & Support Service Division (EMSSD), the School Planning and Building Division (SPBD), the Private School Division (PSD) and the Early Childhood Care and Development and Special Educational Needs Division (ECCD&SEN).
The Department of Adult and Higher Education is organized into the Scholarship and Student Support Division (SSSD), the Non Formal and Continuing Education Division (NFCED), Higher Education and Planning Division (HEPD) and Quality Assurance and Accreditation Division (QAAD). This department is also responsible for liaising with the Royal University of Bhutan.
The Department of Youth and Sports is organized into the Career Education and Counseling Division (CECD), Games and Sports Division (GSD), Scouts and Culture Education Division (SCED) and Comprehensive School Health Division (CSHD) and Youth Centre Division. The Games and Sports Division also works closely with the National Sports Federations. The Youth Centre Division (YCD) is further supported by the Youth Information Centres (YIC) for delivering youth related information and services.
The next page shows the organizational structure of the ministry.
Annex 4.1 Organization Structure, Ministry of Education
3.03 Department of Youth & SportsOffice of Director 1 2 3 0 5 5 6 2 8Comprehensive School Health Division 2 2 4 0 0 2 2 4Career Education and Counselling Division 3 5 8 0 0 3 5 8Games and Sports Division 5 2 7 1 1 0 6 2 8Information and Communication Division 5 3 8 0 1 1 6 3 9Scouts Division 4 2 6 0 0 4 2 6Youth Information Center 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 2Sub-total 21 16 37 1 1 2 6 6 28 17 45
3.04 Department of Curriculum Research and DevelopmentOffice of Director 4 4 0 1 1 2 5 1 6Primary Curriculum Division 5 1 6 0 0 5 1 6Programmes and Support Services Division 4 2 6 0 0 4 2 6Publication and Instructional Media Division 1 2 3 0 0 1 2 3Sub-total 14 5 19 0 0 0 1 2 15 6 21
Grand Total 133 93 226 5 4 9 28 4 22 166 100 266
# Dzongkhag School Name Type
WFP Beneficiaries Non WFPDay Boarder Total Boarders
G B T G B T G B T G B T1 Bumthang Jakar HSS 75 119 1942 Bumthang Chhumey MSS 25 35 60 25 35 60 61 72 1333 Bumthang Tang MSS 65 53 118 65 53 118 32 26 584 Bumthang Ura MSS 22 27 49 22 27 49 49 61 110