Play not with education.
Our future is shaped by our education. How far have we come?
Central schools are at the front and centre of talk today. Well and good. But what is it really?
If education cannot be at the heart of development, there is a problem. But how education is viewed in the larger scheme of things will matter.
This day, our education system encourages students to beat teacher any which way they want. But our teachers cannot discipline our students. How wonderful indeed!
Our ministers can cry when a warden beats a student, but they are not concerned about students beating their teachers. Is this how our education system should show its face? What about value education in school that we impress in between the lessons and periods?
Now let us talk about education reforms. What are we doing? When our teachers are leaving in droves and cannot be concerned, our education system is falling into the abyss.
Culture is the next. We have lofty dreams about our culture and tradition, yet we borrow from abroad that do not fit into our systems easily. There was a time when education department decided that learning English grammar is not necessary even as a medium of instruction in schools was English.
Let us talk about Dzongkha too. Dzongkha is one of the most difficult and unpopular subjects today. We have Dzongkha Development Commission all right, what is the commission doing today. Instead of simplifying Dzongkha, we are complicating further by going to the roots that have no relevance to our languages.
We are getting wrong in setting our vision. Education will never succeed if we are unclear ourselves. Education will do well only when we can relate our culture to the modes of learning. That is called adaptation. Borrowing and adapting are things that are worlds apart.
Let us look at our education journey. We have come so far, but we need to look afar. Short-term reforms will do us no good. Education should be at the core of our development policies. We cannot play with our future. Education is our future.