Exchange students awed by GNH
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(Thimphu)The students and teachers from across the institutes of Singapore and India, who are presently in the country for a 10-day exchange program, were deeply drawn by the concept of Gross National Happiness. The exchange program was sponsored under Bhutan Education City collaboration initiative. Through this, 33 students and four teachers from Raffles Institution of Singapore, 10 students from Welham Girls School, eight students and one teacher from Scindia Boys School and 15 students and three teachers from Vasant Valley School of India made it to Bhutan this time.Although these international students were looking forward to a unique and rare learning experience in Bhutan – through interactions with the Bhutanese students – they were more curious about the concept of GNH and how it works in Bhutan.
An economic lecturer of Raffles Institute, Jamie Reeves said that when he heard about GNH he was not convinced and thought it was some kind of a hippie thing (trying to make people happy). “It’s different than what I thought and I am very impressed. Economic measures with various ceremonies to achieve GNH, other country should look at it,” he said. Likewise, I Naishad Kai-Ren from the same institute said that before he came to Bhutan, GNH was a hot talk in Singaporean Parliament, where they wanted to adopt GNH. “Bhutan has very serene atmosphere, giving people space to live in their own happy ways. If our government adopts GNH, I think it will be different and most probably the goal to achieve that will be difficult because Gross Domestic Product is top priority,” he said, adding Bhutanese are very friendly and lively. Although in terms of revenue inflow, both Bhutan and Singapore are dependent on tourism industry, the latter however goes for high-volume-less-value policy. “Entertainment industry is the key attraction of tourists in my country but in Bhutan it is the preservation of tradition, culture and GNH. There is trust between the government and people, it is the community spirit that shines in Bhutan,” said Pang Wei Han, from Raffles Institute. Tejas Sharma from India was similarly enthralled by the GNH way of life in Bhutan, “We just work to live; there is nothing beyond money but here people seem satisfied with their lives and the impact of economic growth doesn’t seem to affect everyone’s life.” The interesting thing of Bhutan, he added, is that the king and the government are taking active part in promoting GNH, which is going to bring unprecedented prosperity.” The international visitors interacted with the students of Yangchenphug and Punakha Higher Secondary School, and will be visiting Khangkhu Middle Secondary School in Paro. During these visits, the students will conduct group activities, tour the campus, present cultural items and donate library books. They will also visit important cultural sites like Paro Taktsang. “The ‘transition model’ includes short courses and exchange programs with various reputed international education institutions to promote the Bhutan Education City project and establish linkages with reputed institutions,” Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba said A similar program, the second General Management Program (GMP) with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad (IIM-A), is scheduled to take place from January 15 to 28, 2012 at Punakha. The project is collaborating with the Royal University of Bhutan for launching the Masters in Development Practices (MDP) with the Earth Institute of Columbia University by July 2013. Raffles Institute has also invited five students from Bhutan to visit their campus and attend their prestigious Raffles Science Fair in June 2012. The visitors mingled with guest speakers invited from the Royal Society for Protection of Nature, Ministry of Education, Center for Bhutan Studies, Royal University of Bhutan and Institute of Language and Cultural Studies. Source: bhutantimes |