This five-year CIDA Bilateral project," Strengthening
Support to Education in Bhutan" (SSEB) will focus on
strengthening education in Bhutan through sustainable
development of human resources. The project will assist
Bhutan with curriculum design and instructional delivery system in primary and
secondary English language, primary mathematics and
engineering. The project will also support the CCO in providing administrative and logistical
support services.
The Strengthening Support to Education in Bhutan (SSEB)
project has been developed by the University of New
Brunswick (UNB) in close cooperation with the Ministry of
Education (MoE), Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB) and
builds on their ten-year partnership through two phases of
the Education Institutional Strengthening Projects (EISP I
and EISP II).
The proposed project is comprised of two components: The
Education Component is framed in response to the RGOB's
desire for assistance in implementing the education
component of Bhutan's Ninth Five Year Plan (2002-2007); the
Canada-Bhutan Programme Support Unit component is
developed in tandem with the Education Component in order to
ensure adequate support to the SSEB project, as well as to
provide the necessary consular and other services required
in Bhutan.
The Education Component of the project will be managed
through a Contribution Agreement with the University of New
Brunswick. A separate Management Strategy has been prepared
for the CCO component, which will be managed through a contract
with the University of New Brunswick.
I. Education Component:
(English & Maths Curriculum)
The SSEB project will address issues of physical access and
quality of Education through a number of strategic
interventions. The main focus of the project is "capacity
building" in order to build and strengthen sustainable human
resources in Bhutan.
The project seeks to provide professional development
experiences for teachers in the field who will take a
leadership or mentorship role in teaching of primary level
English and Mathematics. The Mentor-Teacher Course Leaders
for primary level English- Language and Mathematics
Education who will develop and teach the course will receive
graduate level education and work with Canadian counterparts
in schools and in the Education Faculty at UNB. One of the
components of their graduate program will include
development of curriculum and course material for mentor
teacher courses, which will in turn be delivered through the
National Institutes of Education (NIEs).
Support to English-language training will also be provided
at the secondary level. By improving the quality of high
school English, future teachers will have an improved
background of English language knowledge, a necessary
competency since English is the medium of instruction in
Bhutanese schools.
Through the project a joint Canadian - Bhutanese team will
develop another new Specialist Certificate. Selected
Bhutanese educators will travel to Canada to take graduate
level course and to work with Canadian team members to
develop the curriculum for this new course. Canadian
educators will travel to Bhutan to teach the program with
their Bhutanese colleagues, strengthening the capacity of
Bhutanese lecturers so that they can more ably deliver these
courses.
The quality of English -Language curriculum at the primary
and secondary levels is a major concern to the MoE. They
feel that the English curriculum and teaching materials
could benefit from a gap analysis in terms of scope,
sequence and depth from classes PP TO XII. To conduct this
assessment, a special English -Language task force will be
established to coordinate the work. The team will be
composed of experts from the MoE and NIE, and Canadian
curriculum advisor.
The curriculum will be reviewed and revised where needed and
recommendations will be submitted to the MOE with an
implementation strategy and schedule for deployment in the
Bhutanese public education system. Detailed recommendations
will be made on course standards, content, support
materials, and appropriate teaching strategies.
There are several concerns with regard to the Math curriculum.
The RGOB has identified the re-writing of mathematics
textbooks and teachers' manuals and training of teachers as
priority tasks. However, before this, it is crucial to
redefine the mathematics curriculum for Bhutanese schools
from levels PP to XII. The MoE, through a loan from the
World Bank, will field a consultant to assist with a
detailed gap analysis and revisions of the Math curriculum.
Additional support will be provided through this project, if
required.
ICT Development
Other initiatives include the use of Education Resource Centres (ERCs) to support clusters of primary schools. The ERC catering to rural and remote schools will also offer
learning opportunities for teachers. Information
Communication Technology (ICT) will be enhanced at Sherubtse
College and the ERCs in order to provide access to
educational resources to teachers in remote areas. Masters
degrees in Computer Science will be offered at UNB to
selected trainees. Upon completion of MSc. graduates will be
prepared for faculty positions at Sherubtse College.
Engineering & Training
Efforts are also required to improve the quality of
engineering instruction at the Royal Bhutan Institute of
Technology (RBIT), the only engineering college in the
country. Through Masters level training in Engineering at
UNB and through work attachments, trainees will be better
prepared for faculty positions at the RBIT.
Engineering
Faculty members from UNB will lecture at RBIT and assist
with the development of courses in civil and electrical
engineering and construction technology that will be
responsive to Bhutan's unique climatic, geographic and
labour supply situation. Improved faculty in the Engineering
Department of RBIT will result in a stronger cadre of
graduates able to assist Bhutan in meeting its rural
education infrastructure as it expands this infrastructure
at an unprecedented rate to meet its goals of education for
all by 2015.
II. Canada-Bhutan Programme Support Unit CCO
CIDA's programming and Canada's presence in Bhutan has been
limited to Canada Fund initiatives, the Education
Institutional Strengthening Project I and II, including a
Canada- Bhutan Programme Support Unit, the Canadian
Cooperation Office.
In June 2003, formal diplomatic
relations was established between Canada and Bhutan. There
is an anticipated increase in the demands for cost-recovery PSU -related services to DFAIT and the Canadian and
Bhutanese public and private sector stakeholders.
CIDA recognizes that the CCO has proven to be an effective
and efficient delivery mechanism for providing the necessary
programming, administrative and logistical support to CIDA's
modest programme in Bhutan.
The CCO provides a range of administrative and logistical
support services for visiting Canadian officials, contracted
advisors and programme/project support personnel,
transportation services, procurement, communications
facilities and office support services. CIDA wishes,
therefore to maintain a PSU in Bhutan through a contract
with the Canadian executing agency, the University of New
Brunswick.
