Primary Science Curriculum in Bhutan: Development and Challenges

Abstract

The land-locked mountainous Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, sandwiched between, the giant neighbors China to the north and India to the south, has adopted an approach to development that attempts to straddle traditional values and customs but also adopts many of the features of Western development (see Maxwell, 2007). After centuries of self-imposed isolation from outside influences, the process of modernization in Bhutan began in earnest from 1961 with the commencement of the First Five Year Plan. Introduction and then modernization of the secular education system, to complement Buddhist monastic education, was always seen as a crucial part of Bhutan's development. Science education has had an important place in the modernization process over the last five decades because in "many years to come there shall remain enough demands in the kingdom for doctors, scientist and engineers as well as many technical hands for which science and mathematics education are the pre-encouragement" (Royal Government of Bhutan [RGoB], 1989a, p. 17).