On Education and Values- A Speech by Lyonpo Thakur S Powdyel (Part II)

At a time when the search for a job is uppermost in your mind, any suggestion of personal cultivation may sound naive or even unkind. But education will be a highly impoverished engagement if it were to be limited to only completing a course of study and finding an employment, as important as they both are.

One of the supreme ironies of modern education – at all levels- is that its inspiration comes from the open market and not from ideals and visions that elevate the mind and expand the heart. Reductive market metaphors are the order of the day. We have, therefore, saleable graduates, marketable ideas, employable skills, as if the whole purpose of education were to prepare young men and women for employment and nothing else.

Neither extreme is affordable. A wholesome middle path is the call of the hour. James Michener’s conception of the Clovis point provides a most compelling model for a new role of education. In his famous novel The Centennial, Michener has the narrator all praise for the hunter who has manufactured a most potent equipment to catch game.

If it were just a question of fitting out an equipment to catch animals, the hunter could have simply forged a practical weapon and had his feast. But, he went a step further- he turned the weapon into a work of art – over and above making it a hunting equipment.

I like to think of education in such the same way as Michener’s hunter thinks of his hunting equipment- elevating the scholar with the qualities of usefulness and gracefulness. Education gains in value and substance if it ensures that the knowledge that the scholar acquires over a period of study is useful to himself or herself, to his or her family and to the society at large. Knowledge for its own sake is to be welcomed, but if it has practical value, you add fragrance to gold.
Knowledge devoid of gracefulness is brutish and tyrannical. Such knowledge creates a deficiency in the scholar that manifests itself immediately in his or her social interactions and public behaviour. Values are a function of principal and of action. Where do I stand in the scale of values?

On a more far-reaching national scale, when many of you were away, we ushered in a new system of governance in the country. Unlike in so many countries around the world, democracy came to Bhutan in peace-time as the symbol of conscious decisions of his majesty our beloved Drukgyal Zhipa Jigme Singye Wangchuck.
Today, we would like to ask ourselves: What is my image of my country ten years from now” 20 years? 50? 100 years and beyond? Will it be a prosperous and confident country of Gross national happiness at peace with itself? What will it take to move my country forward? What is my place in the scheme of things? As I am, so is my nation.

We have this historic responsibility of establishing and advancing a unique Bhutanese brand of democracy built on the principles of honour, integrity and the spirit of service. Only a strong sense of self-discipline at all levels of our society will ensure the success of democracy in our country.

With all its imperfections, we still have a country that is increasingly being looked at as a model for many things. As leaders of tomorrow, it falls upon you to receive the blessings of our heritage by right and responsibly and hand over to your successors who will receive and advanc3 it by right and responsibility.

I n a democracy, it is ever so easy to bulked and administer cynical and negative impulses. As leaders of tomorrow, it is my dream and my prayer that you will be the subjects of hope and of faith. This country is meant for noble things and you can be rte reason for its nobility of mind and of action.

The mass media have introduced the cost and colour of your kiras and your ghos, the make and height of your shoe-heels, to our capital city. I wonder what kind of Thimphu you met this time round. I wonder too what kind of graduates Thimphu has found this time round.

Year after year, hundreds of our scholars converge in Thimphu and merge in its dizzy life- with its own share of purity and its perversity. What will make your batch unique? This city will radiate the light that you have brought from the many seats of learning at home and abroad.

Our country will illumine in your ideals and in your integrity.
As leaders of tomorrow, we look upon you as the intellectual and moral force in the building of our nation.

May you all rise! May you all shine! Our leaders of tomorrow.

Tashi Delek.

On Education and Values- A Speech by Lyonpo Thakur S Powdyel (Part I)

As a teacher, it has been my good fortune to wait on and to wait for the leaders of tomorrow all my life. In a deeply cherished destiny spanning more than a quarter century, I have followed the progress of our children from kindergarten to university and beyond to positions of high leadership dedicated to the service of our beloved country.

In faith, in anticipation, I have traced the development of myriad personal narratives- of hope and of dreams, of innocence and of experience, of fear and of anxiety. Above all, I have celebrated the idealism and the creative energy that our youth hold in such abundance and with such promise.

That is the reason why I have waited with much anticipation to meet withy you today. I am grateful to the organisers for the largeness of your heart to allow me a little space for a little conversation with the leaders of tomorrow.

“Go out to learn, come in to serve”, the wise ones said. Today, I celebrate with your parents the fulfilment of an old promise. You fill this hall with your presence. But, more importantly, you fill our hearts with joy and with pride.

Leaders of tomorrow, who you are and what you have achieved, you owe it to your parents and to your country. Where you stand today and where you want to go from here, you owe it to yourself.

Many thousand little girls and little e boys of your generation joined school together with you in PP over two decades ago. Only a fraction of that multitude has forged on and completed graduation this year. So many fell by the way- some owing to factors for which they would have been responsible, others due to circumstances over which they had no control.

So many sacred dreams crashed on the streets of far-away lands. One crash was too many, one life too precious. So many cherished hopes were dashed in the glamour, the glitter and the litter of lien cities. And one hope dashed was one hope crushed too many. What remains today is only a memory.

But you are here today. And that makes all the difference. You have not only come home from around the world all in one piece, but you have brought home t gifts of many land. You brought home nothing less than the gold of Cuba, the gold of Sri Lanka and the gold of India. You distinguished yourselves, stood out in the crowds and brought honour to our country. I offer to you my commendations from the bottom of my heart.

It wasn’t fair to expect every one of you top collect all the gold from around the world. But, certainly, all of you have brought home treasures of different kind- you mined the core of your universities and colleges and discovered the soul of your seats of learning. If you came back with the intellectual treasures that animate and sustain the life of scholars and of universities, you brought gold to your country. I offer to you my commendations from the bottom of heart.

The intellectual endeavours of many continents, regions and countries, including our own, are sampled in this congregation. As I mentioned in the little note that I sent personally to you (I could not locate every one’s address!) some ti9me ago, every seat of learning has its own special life.

It is to discover this unique life and how it is expressed in the programmes the university or college offers that scholars come from far and wide. Whether as government scholars or as privately-sponsored scholars, your mission was the same- to get to the heart of your discipline.

Today, I have been asked to share my views on a very complex issue- education and values. I have accepted the challenge not because I am particularly qualified to speak on such a difficult topic, but because I cannot think of education without thinking of values in the same breadth. What is important about values though is that they are not so much to be talked about as lived out. And they operate at all levels- individual, institutional, social, national, and international.

In my scheme of things, values refer to the normative frame that human beings develop to distinguish between categories of right or wrong, truth or falsehood, moral or immoral, or simply good or bad. We have, in the course or our evolution, built a range of notions and beliefs that have now evolved as convenient constructs to define our ethical orientation and guide our life.

Education is all about the cultivation of the entire dimension of individual – physical, social, intellectual, cultural, spiritual, psychological, moral, aesthetic, emotional, personal, and other spheres. It is a process for the wakening and sharpening of one’s sensitivities and sensibilities- such that an individual becomes “more seeing, more hearing, and, above all, more feeling’, as in the language of Joseph Conrad. As a normative endeavour, education is an invitation that gently draws the human mind to look for and to love what is True, and Good and Beautiful.

Look into the heart of all your fields of study. In each of them, there is the grace of great ideas that nurtures and sustains of time and space. What is science but infinite dance of nature? Humanities or liberal arts are an attempt of the human mind to celebrate the unending search for perfection and the limitless configurations of social relations. Philosophy is but an excuse for our undying yearning for the eternal and the immutable.

If this were not the case, we would have stopped teaching science and arts and commerce and allied disciplines long ago. I hope you have discovered a reason for electing to pursue a field beyond the prescribed topics and the chapters in your subjects.

Lyonpo Dorji Wangdi inaugurated the formal NGOP opening ceremony

The Labour and Human Resources Minister, Lyonpo Dorji Wangdi inaugurated the opening ceremony of the NGOP along with the Finance Minister, Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu, Members of Parliament and secretaries from the different ministries yesterday.

Lyonpo Dorji Wangdi said: “The number graduates increases every year and so it might be the general quality of education increasing too. The government is proud and happy about so many graduates getting gold medals and then Order of Merit and other certificates.

Both His Majesties- the father and the son- emphasise that youth are the leaders of tomorrow. Going by the educational qualification and values our graduates hold, there is no doubt that you will not fulfil His Majesties’ vision.”

“The democratically elected government is only one and half years old. The main purpose of the institution of the Constitutional Democratic Monarchy in the country is that the security and sovereignty of our nation is safeguarded and peoples’ needs and wellbeing are looked into and further promoted,” said Lyonpo.

While democracies in other countries are failing owing to corrupt practices, the present elected government emphasises and work towards efficient and fast formulation and implementation of policies and policies, Lyonpo added.

The main objective and goal of the socio-economic development in the country will towards achieving the Gross National Happiness. So should the policies and plans be in accordance, and give importance, to the four pillars of GNH (the promotion of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance) and equity and justice.

Lyonpo said that the service industries ranging from tourism, destination for treatment and education, information and communication technology (ICT) centres and banking will hugely contribute towards economic development in the country in the future for which the policies and plans have been laid accordingly.

In this tenth Five Year Plan (FYP), the whole country will have electricity supply service and all the geog centres will be connected with motorable roads.

According to Lyonpo, within the tenth FYP there will be 9300 people seeking for employment but the government is worried about it. So the government has so many plans and policies in line to mitigate the unemployment problem by emphasising the development of private sectors.

Lyonpo quoted His Majesty King Jigme Khesar’s address to the first session of the first Parliament in May 2008:

“It has always been my prayer that we will all be united in our efforts to build a stronger nation, so that at the end of our lives, when we hand over our country, our children will inherit a stronger nation where all obstacles to their happiness and prosperity will have been overcome and where we have created the conditions for the fulfillment of their aspirations.

And above all, that they will be better than us, more qualified and capable. If Bhutan is to excel, our future generations must always be better than those before them.”

NGOP 2009 informal briefing held

The Ministry of Labour and Human Resources (MoLHR) yesterday conducted an informal briefing session for 1,231 graduates (751 men and 480 women) who are going to attend the two-week long National Graduate Orientation Programme (NGOP) at the Nazhoen Pelri, Youth Development Centre, Thimphu led by Dasho (PhD) Sonam Tenzin, secretary to MoWHS.

Dasho Sonam Tenzin in his address to the graduates, said: “The core component of the NGOP in the past consisted primarily of briefing on national policies, government organisations and functioning of various ministries and departments. It was done mainly to orient our graduates to the sector policies and functions of the bureaucracy.

The NGOP must now provide wholesome introduction to graduates in becoming a responsible, educated citizen of the country. It should include academic discourses of international standard and relevance and personal development programmes based on diverse wisdom and experience.”

There will be six symposiums and six debate programmes on different issues ranging from Bhutanese polity to socio-economic development issues.

Dasho Sonam Tenzin said that the NGOP shall comprise of talks and discussions on the vital aspects of Bhutanese history to understand important past events of the country; the government policies and Bhutan’s regional and global identity; critical appraisal and analysis of current issues faced by different sectors in the country; and life skills and values.

Other programmes are cultural orientation - theory and practical Driglam Namzha (Bhutanese etiquette) trainings, intellectual and leadership enhancement programmes as well as meditation.

While Dasho Sonam Tenzin briefed the graduates about the forthcoming programmes, he reminded all of them about their own importance in the society, for both parents and the government have invested so much on them and they would contribute towards the betterment of themselves, others and the society they live in.

After the briefing session, as the graduates had been already allocated to eight houses - which are named by the various mountain passes in the country - they were asked to elect their respective councillors and nominate their representatives for the chief councillor’s post democratically.

In different houses there are a mix of students coming from different colleges and universities. It was done so to make the graduates interact among themselves and to make the NGIOP move ahead smoothly, said one official.

So it was during the campaign speeches that the nominated graduates for the chief councillor talked on various issues such as legalising abortion in the country, impacts of Drayang (the night club), importance of entrepreneurship and leadership skills and tradition and culture and so many...

After the lunch session the graduates were informed about the current scenario of HIV/AIDS in the country as well as in the whole world, cautioning them about the safer sex to value their life by the officials from the Health Ministry.

It is during the NGOP, which was first started as the National Social Service Programme in mid 1970, that so many cultural programmes and social activities will be organised by different houses.

The NGOP which will conclude on 22 September by the address of His Majesty King Jigme Khesar will be organised by the Labour and Human Resources, Education, and Home and Cultural Affairs ministries, Royal Civil Service Commission and Royal University of Bhutan.

Standing Tall and Voicing Out in the NGOP

The feeling so strong that I have to participate in what ever may be always catapults me in to participation. I love this habit of mine. So I maintain it.

It was yesterday on 7 September at the informal NGOP briefing session that I volunteered to be a nominee for the post of Councillor in our house Korila, one of the eight houses which have been named according to the names of prominent passes in the country.

But winning the election contest looked grim for me as I saw many senior graduates who had higher and better qualification and capabilities than me. Yet I kept the fear inside me and exhibited my confidence through my campaign speech.

It was in that speech that I mentioned some of the thoughts that have been bothering since weeks ago. I said that out of around 1300 graduates it was only the handful of them who would be selected to serve as civil servant.

Where would the rest go? Does our government have any plan down the line for them to be employed or either get them on the path of doing business of any kind.

I even talked about the impacts and the message that Drayang(night dance club) bear in Bhutanese mind. I said that Drayang is the breeding place for prostitution and thus welcoming so-unwelcome sexually transmitted diseases and especially HIV/ AIDS.

Presence of Drayang says that girls are victimised for the sake of sheer enjoyment and proving a bait to do the business well. The fact is that these girls have to go at the extent of agreeing to sleep with customers for giving them the request for either song or dance item from them.

Then I switched on to the infamous drainage system in the capital which runs amok during raining and fill the atmosphere with foul smell. Thus making the passing through the town disgusting. So, in a way, I suggested about doing some clean-up campaigns during the NGOP so that we create awareness among the capital residents.
But I was not elected for the councillorship but was nominated to compete with other seven nominated graduates for the post of chief councillorship.

Most of them took their turn and spoke their own way. Then came my turn and so I took charge of the podium and the whole audience belonged to me for a while.

I repeated most of the things which I have talked in the campaign speech for the councillorship. The extra thing that I added was importance of entrepreneurship skills, which our graduates should realise and create self-employment opportunities, so that literate society really plays a huge role in contributing to the socio-economic development in the country.

Though I was also not elected for the chief-councillorship I felt I had participated and did my part in my style.

So it is just the beginning. Yet more to go...