Providing more equitable opportunities for students in the poorest and most remote districts of Bhutan

WHERE

The project was developed by two boarding schools — Bjishong Central School and Sonamthang Central School — located in two rural districts of Bhutan.

CONTEXT

In Bhutan, education quality remains low, and improving it is essential to modernising the country. The gap between urban centres and remote areas is too wide: schools in the capital perform well, but quality declines significantly the further one moves from the city. Teacher training and curriculum development are the foundations of quality education, but ensuring students' access to remote learning is equally critical. Interactive digital classrooms need to be established in all remote schools, supported by distance learning programmes.

The project aims to strengthen formal education in Bhutan by enabling as many students as possible living in remote areas to access the school system, and by building educational resilience in the event of future pandemics or other causes of social isolation. An online learning platform will be developed and the digital infrastructure required for the daily interaction of 112 teachers with 1,277 students and their families will be put in place. This will strengthen the link between schools and families, raise parental awareness of the importance of their children's education, and promote recognition of the value of digital skills. Professionals will work alongside school heads and teachers in a training and participatory process to develop the online platform and build the educational content underpinning the distance learning programmes.

OBJECTIVES

Increase education quality by 50% in 2 schools through enhanced digital skills and access to online programmes
Ensure digital interaction between 112 teachers, 1,277 students and their families through the development and operationalisation of a digital platform
 

ACTIVITIES

• Supply of 18 interactive multimedia whiteboards: each school will receive 9 interactive whiteboards with 65-inch LED screens
• Development of a platform for teaching and school management: with the support of professionals, an interactive online platform will be created to enable teachers and students to interact remotely
• Training of 112 teachers in the use of interactive multimedia whiteboards and the digital platform, organised across two main modules
• Monitoring will be carried out by ASIA both remotely — through regular weekly meetings with the Nyo Foundation for activity updates, administrative reviews and definition of training content — and through field missions, subject to the COVID-19 pandemic situation
   

BENEFICIARIES

Developed through a participatory process involving the two schools, the Nyo Foundation and ASIA, the project targets 1,277 students, 112 teachers and 66 school staff members, for a total of 1,455 direct beneficiaries and 21,900 indirect beneficiaries.

PARTNERS

Druk Nyo Foundation
 

PROJECT FUNDED BY

Tavola Valdese