Gross National Happiness in Education.
Gross National Happiness is the grand vision of the benevolent His Majesty, Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the fourth King of Bhutan. Not only unique but Gross National Happiness is one of the most debated topics in the World. It is working towards the happiness of the entire citizen. Bhutan uses Gross National Happiness as a guiding Principle to move towards a more realistic development. It stresses in both the social and economic development.
The Gross national happiness was first coined in 1972 by the benevolent King Jigme Singye Wangchuck.
After the workshop conducted in winter this year by our Prime Minister to all the principals in the country the concept of Gross National Happiness is introduced in the school curriculum. The concept of GNH is taught to the children since the beginning of their education. It is not taught to the children as a subject but it is incorporated in the curriculum to inculcate values in the future GNH graduates. The concept of Gross National Happiness measures what values the student possesses when graduating from the schools in equal importance to what marks he obtained.
According to a teacher of a School in Thimphu, the school prescribed the some of the goals for GNH as follows:
- 100 % attendance for staff and students
- Punctuality in all activities
- Responsibility and accountability
- Mindfulness-(being calm and less aggressive)
- Tidiness
- Accident free day
- Use of proper language
- Class room organization.
- Green day
- Greening the school
The most interesting among the above mentioned goals is the green day. On this day all the teachers should wear something green and children should have something green in their pack lunch. This way children are encouraged to have something green in their meals. Greening the school is the theme for the year for all the schools in Bhutan. This is being observed by the school to bring awareness about “Clean and Green Bhutan”.
The school has also included “Politeness, confident, respectful, honesty and other such qualities in their continuous assessment as formative assessment. One of the GNH traits is taken in a week and children are assessed weekly by all the teachers.
