YK Poudel

A total of 134 scouts completed a 15-day leadership training at the National Scouts Centre in Paro on July 25.

The training was organised to equip the nazhoen scouts from across the country with scouting methods and principles. It was supported by the Royal Bhutan Army’s Commando Wing, Shaba.

Deputy chief programme officer, Scouts and Sports Division, Department of Education Programmes, Nawang Gyaltshen, said that the trained leadership scouts would be capable of leading troops in schools and organising scouting programs and projects in their schools and dzongkhags. 

The training covered various activities such as physical exercises, impromptu speeches, white river rafting, rappelling, cultural activities, spiritual visits, games competitions, disaster risk reduction, fire fighting techniques, and jungle survival techniques. The main goal was to prepare the scouts to face the challenges of the world through scouting, with a particular emphasis on leadership.

There are about 131,000  scouts in the country

According to him, the leadership-trained scouts, will gain knowledge and experiences in various fields such as first aid, ropework and pioneering, estimation and orienteering, culture and spirituality, survival skills and many more as a personal development. 

“The leadership training is a prestigious and well-revered training for scouts in the country,” he said.

During the programme, the scouts train to be better leaders in their community, and learn about volunteerism and issues that can be taken as community projects, besides participating in sports and other team activities.

Five exceptional participants who completed class 12 will receive scholarships for higher studies.

Since its establishment in 2013 upon the Royal Command of His Majesty The King, the leadership training has produced 2,076 trained scouts in Bhutan.

Currently, there are about 131,000  scouts in the country at different scouting levels.