Kamal: A Talent In My School

Kamal is like any other eleventh grade science student in my school. He is a shy and a timid young boy. Because of his silent and calm nature, he is not an easily noticeable student in the school. He is a member of the school vocational club.

Recently the school conducted 'Club Exhibition'. The school has twenty one clubs. Kamal occupied a small space in the vocational club corner. He sat quietly with some mobile repairing equipment displayed before him. The crowd concentration shifted from one club to another but not many were interested in Kamal. The few that came thought that what was before him was merely a display of disassembled mobile phone. 

All during the program Kamal remained inconspicuous to the audience. It was only towards the end of the program that Kamal came to the limelight. Actually it was my encounter with him that caught the crowd's eye.

Kamal in the vocational club corner

The guests had already left and there was a very thin audience left. I thought we had called it an exhibition and I was walking out of the hall. As I neared the exit door I saw Kamal sitting quietly with two other friends.

"What have you got here?" I asked him.

"Mobile repair sir"

"Can you repair my mobile? Its sound doesn't work" I asked .

I thought he would not dare accept to work on a teacher's mobile. But the response was a confident "Yes sir"

I handed him my mobile and others around me started to laugh taking Kamal for granted. But Kamal started getting busy on the mobile. I told him in jest 'I hope you will not return my mobile in pieces like Mr. Bean returning a solid radio in several pieces to a customer' following which there was a huge laughter from students who thronged around to watch Kamal.

The students who were watching Kamal were anxious over what Kamal was doing. They thought he was on a risky venture of handling a teacher's phone.

Just then a lady teacher walked past and asked me "What's going on here?"

"He is repairing my mobile" I said.

"He will only get your mobile spoiled" she remarked and walked away giving a fleeting glance at Kamal.

Kamal heard the comment and he blushed but his hands never ceased to be confident.

Kamal working on my mobile

At one moment I was skeptical of his ability. I wished I had not given him the mobile. By then he had dismantled the phone completely and I could only watch him.

But his hands were deft and he exuded confidence over what he was doing

Still skeptical, I asked the other two boys sitting next to him who were equally quite. "Do you think he can really repair my mobile?"

"Yes sir. He can. He is really good at it sir." That gave me some reassurance.

Kamal had identified a problem with my phone. He said "sir, there is a disconnection here" He pointed to something very tiny which I couldn't make a thing. He  worked meticulously on it and got it fixed. 

Watching among the crowd was another teacher who also had problem with his mobile phone. He stepped forward and handed Kamal his phone. He had multiple problems - the camera, screen and dial pad. Kamal got all of them fixed just in few minutes. He won the crowd's heart.

Fascinated by his capability, I asked him "Did you do any formal training on repairing mobile phones?" 

"No sir. I learnt by myself at home" he said still looking timid.

"Are all these repair kits yours?" I asked pointing at the kits.

"Yes sir"

"Do you do this at home?"

"Yes sir"

"Sir, he is well known in Daragaon, (the place where he stays)" said the other two boys near him."People give him different electrical appliances such as, rice cooker, curry cooker, water boiler, microoven, washing machine and fan to repair. Just anything sir-any electrical equipment. He fixes them all for free sir. His room looks like a electronics repair shop" 

The next day I got the following things repaired:

1. Water boiler

2. Two fans 

3. Micro oven 

4. Tubelight

5. Extension cord

6. My wife's watch

I was surprised at Kamal's unique skills. Unique because he didn't learn from any Guru but his skills are self-taught. However, Kamal admitted that he cannot repair computers and digital camera. He has plans to attend computer repair course this winter. 

When asked about his ambition, Kamal said he wants to become an electronic engineer. 

A STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN A HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN BHUTAN

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting academic performance of the students of a higher secondary school in Bhutan. The dependent variable considered for the study was students’ academic performance, which was indicated by students’ test scores and the independent variables were students’ demographic characteristics, parents’ socio-economic status, parenting style and students’ learning and study strategy. The data were collected from 241 students of the school using two questionnaires­–Learning And Study Strategy Inventory and Baumrind’s Parenting Style’s Questionnaire. Correlation analysis, independent samples t-test and descriptive analysis were used to analyze data. The findings revealed that socio-economic factors and parenting style are predictors of student’s academic performance but not students’ demographic variables like gender, age and living arrangements. The findings also revealed that students had average level learning and study skills. Recommendations are made to create awareness concerning parenting skills and to engage parents in adult education programs. Teachers, educationists and counselors are recommended to teach students learning and study strategies.

KEY WORDS: Academic Performance, Socio-economic Status, Learning and Study Strategy, Parenting Style

X E's Hanging Garden

Earlier the school announced class ten and twelve students to work on a project within the school for SUPW grades. My class, X E, has chosen to build what they call 'The hanging garden'. Unlike the Hanging Gardens of Babylon where plants were not hung but grown on concrete structures, X E students really want to hang their garden.

Enthusiastic about their project, they started planning on the site and the paraphernalia. They decided the small area just below the parking lot in front of the school gate as its site. They agreed to collect some money to buy the materials required. I discouraged them from collecting money but they insisted that for SUPW grades they would do anything. They ordered a cuboid metal frame 15x7x10ft from the bordering town of new Chamarchi. However, owing to its big size reaching it to the school was a problem. It didn't fit even in the DCM truck I arranged for them. Therefore, they decided to carry it from checkpoint to the school.

From the border gate to school gate

Placing the metal frame at the site 

Painting it to prevent from rusting

Smudged with paint 

It's been few weeks since they started to work and thus far everything has worked out well. When everybody would go home they would stay back and work on it. While some would be engaged in scrubbing off rust from the metal frame others would be engaged in leveling the ground where the frame will be fixed. More recently they have painted the frame to prevent from rusting and they are now waiting for it to dry. In the mean while they are planning on the type of flowers to be hung.

Over the past few weeks, as they worked on it, I have observed them working with the qualities we expect of students. The project has brought them to work closely as a team. It shows how common goals can bring people together.

Jigme, Tashi And A Sick Dog

The following story is based on a true incident as narrated by Jigme and Tashi.

1^st August, morning SUPW, Samtse HSS, 2014. Jigme Wangchuk and Tashi Gyeltshen both of XF were returning to their work area after dumping paper rubbishes in the pit near boys' toilet. Normally Jigme and Tashi are two stone-hearted boys. But that morning their hearts melted when they stumbled upon a dog behind the chemistry lab that was at the brink of dying. What was killing it was a maggot-infected sore on its neck. Other friends had walked past it obliviously or intentionally.  

Jigme and Tashi went close to examine the dog. They noticed that the dog was in dire condition and was barely able to breathe. The wound on its neck looked serious with tissues and blood vessels all exposed. They declared it urgent and decided to take the dog to the nearby veterinary hospital. They hurriedly ran to get permission from their class teacher. After getting an affirmative response from their class teacher, they quickly looked for anything that could be used for carrying the dog. Tashi spotted a sack below the basketball court and quickly fetched it. As they lifted the dog they found that the dog was too unconscious to react to anything. Tashi held the sack open and Jigme lifted the dog by its legs and gingerly placed it in the sack. They set off holding the sack on either ends. As they passed the school gate they saw teachers' cars in the parking lot but they didn’t dare ask any teacher because they had the hunch that no teacher would like to have a nasty dog in their clean cars. So, they decided to go on foot. 

Few minutes down the road they came across two school drop-out friends walking on the other side of the road.

'Tashi, Jigme! What's in the sack?' they asked curiously.

‘A dog’ replied Jigme.

‘A dog!!!? Where are you taking it? Is it dead? Have you killed it?’ 

‘No he is sick’

The two boys came over crossing the road and peeked in the sack. 'Khai it's a stray menna? It’s infected. Let it free’

Tashi and Jigme knew that the boys were beginning to jeer at them so they closed the sack and continued walking. They could hear the two boys still laughing at them from a distance.

En route they checked on the dog every three minutes to make sure that it was breathing. After fifteen minutes, they were at the veterinary hospital. The door of the building was wide open. They walked in but there was nobody. They heard a faint voice from upstairs. ‘Tashi could you go check upstairs?’ suggested Jigme. Tashi promptly climbed the stairs and found an officer busy on the phone. Tashi waited until the officer hung up. 

‘Sir, we have brought a sick dog’ said Tashi.

‘A sick dog!!!?’ the officer sounded surprised as though it was uncommon to have a sick dog in a veterinary hospital.  

‘Show it to the vet downstairs.’

‘There’s no one downstairs, sir’

‘You have to wait. They’ll be back in few minutes’

Tashi didn’t say a word and submissively said ‘Las la’ and walked downstairs.

When he reached downstairs Jigme had taken out the dog on the floor and laid it under fan. They waited helplessly and worriedly for the vet to arrive. They didn’t bother about missing their classes because they felt that they had a more important thing to do at hand. After 20 minutes a car pulled over in the parking lot and a lady stepped out.

‘Hmmm. She must be the vet’ whispered Jigme at Tashi’s ear.

As the lady approached near she grimaced on seeing the dog. Tashi informed ‘Madam we have brought a sick dog’

The lady gave a fleeting glance at the dog as she walked towards her office and said “Ok. Wait. I’ll wash my hands’

Jigme and Tashi stood relieved as they saw the lady donning her lab coat and gloves.

‘Take it in’ the lady instructed.

They lifted the dog, took it in the examination room and placed it on the examination table. The cold steel table gave the dog a sharp stimulus that it woke the dog conscious. It slowly opened its eyes and closed again like heavy curtains.  

The vet handed Jigme and Tashi a pair of plastic gloves each. 'Put them on. I need one of you to hold the dog by its legs and one of you to hold its head' the vet instructed with a muffled voice through her mouth mask.

The treatments began. The vet pulled out many live maggots from the gaping wound. Every time the vet cleansed the wound the dog writhed in pain but it didn’t have any energy to make any sound. Jigme and Tashi held the dog strong and made sure it did not move out of the table. After fifteen minutes the vet gave an injection.

'Yaaa. We are done.' the vet declared. ‘Put it back in the sack’

Jigme and Tashi carefully put the dog in the sack.  The vet wrote a medical prescription and handed a spray. ‘Here, apply it on the wound three times a day’ she instructed.

With the treatments done, Jigme and Tashi’s heart became light. They envisaged the dog’s health improving day by day and hoped that it would one day be able to stand on its feet, join the canine pollution and lead a normal life.

They took the dog back to the school. When they reached the school it was already third period. They decided to keep the dog under the staircase of class eleven building. The dog was still unconscious. Jigme went to get a bottle of water. They slowly lifted the dog’s muzzle, opened its mouth and poured some water. The dog gulped down some of it. 

‘I think it’s hungry’ Tashi said.

‘I have my packed lunch in the class, but we’ll have to wait until lunch break’ Jigme said

Just then the bell rang for the fourth period. They made a comfortable bed with the sack for the dog and left for class. In the classroom they were all but thinking about the dog. They couldn’t keep their concentration with the lesson. Every now and then they looked at the clock to strike 12:45.

No sooner did the bell for lunch break ring than they went to check the dog. Jigme took his lunch box along. He opened it, dug a handful of rice and placed it near the dog’s nose. But the dog had no appetite and didn’t even sniff.  Its eyes were still closed. Jigme and Tashi sacrificed their lunch break to be with the dog. They could do nothing but stop other students who thronged around in eagerness from touching it.

They wished they did not have to attend the remaining two periods. But when the bell rang they had to once more leave the dog and go to class. After what seemed like two long periods, the bell finally rang. Other students went home while they quickly went out to check on the dog. This time around they found the dog awake lifting its neck and had eaten the rice that was kept near it. It heartened both Jigme and Tashi. They knew that the dog was beginning to regain its vitality. They gave some more rice and water. The dog ate them all. Jigme and Tashi had sea of hope that the dog would make to a normal life. 

When their watch struck 5:32 pm, they were reminded of the school rule that no student should be out of home after 6:00 pm. They decided to go home lest they landed in any trouble. Before they left, they gave a final look at the wound and sprayed the medicine over it. They walked home happy and content. 

The next morning Jigme and Tashi met at the school gate. They dropped their bags in the class and went to check the dog. They saw many students crowded around the dog. Jigme and Tashi pushed their way through. What they saw took them by surprise. The dog was motionless, cold and wasn’t breathing. They had lost one more ‘men’s best friend’.   

     

Heartbroken, Jigme and Tashi dug a hole below the football ground and buried the dog. During the morning pray Jigme and Tashi prayed for the dog’s soul to rest in peace.

 The dog was motionless, cold and wasn't breathing

Jigme Wangchuk

Tashi Gyeltshen

Content Overloaded Education

Teacher fronted teaching is the dominant teaching method in Bhutan. Walk into any few classes, you would invariably find teachers taking the center stage while students would simply be listening to the teachers explanation of subject matter and copying what teachers write on chalk board. This trend ails the Bhutanese education system. In teacher-fronted teaching, students do not get to learn by interaction. They do not get chance to share ideas. They don't become responsible for their own learning. They depend too much on teachers to decide what and how to learn. They are left with too little to think and they don't become creative. Learning doesn't become an interesting and enjoyable experience.

Many reasons could be attributed to the prevalence of such practice. But a major reason could be the content overloaded curriculum. There are too many content matters to be delivered within an academic year. The heavy content matters developed by curriculum developers and mandating teachers to complete the syllabus in stipulated time-frame has proven to be disadvantages to the Bhutanese education system. It has resulted in pressure on teachers to move with undue pace through material and encouraging a 'tick list' approach to teaching. It has led to less flexibility and creativity and to a more slavish and sometimes, frantic gallop through the curriculum. Teaching and learning depends too much on textbooks. It doesn't give room for teachers to practice innovative and interactive teaching techniques. 

Besides, overloaded curriculum has lead to considering other important learning activities less important. Teachers are forced to neglect minor subjects such as physical education, living skills, character education and moral education in order to focus more on examination subjects. Because of this, education in schools has become exam oriented learning. It forces schools to rush through subject and drill pupils to pass exams.

Moreover, content overload has led people misconstrue the meaning and purpose of education. Due to overemphasis laid on teaching subjects, most people think learning subjects as the centerpiece of education. People feel that education is all about remembering the subject content or being able to write good answers to questions in exams. And students who score good marks are regarded as educated. That is a narrow view about education. Education is more than that.