In Pursuit of EFA: Expanding and Enhancing Multigrade Schooling in Bhutan

Abstract

The Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan was a signatory to the Jomtien Education for All agreement. Pursuing EFA in Bhutan presents a number of unique geographical, systemic, linguistic and other challenges, and the Royal Government of Bhutan has adopted multigrade school development as one major strategy in moving towards EFA. This adoption can be considered a form of policy borrowing. In this chapter we explore how multigrade schooling has been enhanced and expanded in Bhutan to achieve EFA goals, and in particular, the conditions under which multigrade teaching has become an accepted and important form of educational delivery in Bhutan. We trace the development of multigrade teaching to a set of partly planned and partly coincidental events and contexts. We review the geographical setting of Bhutan, local and global political events, teacher training issues, teacher upgrade programmes, contemporary discourses of education, development and modernization, and local initiatives to promote and strengthen multigrade teaching as a key strategy in providing access to school for children in remote areas. We also identify a number of challenges facing multigrade teaching, including the linguistic context, local reservations about the desirability of multigrade classes and resource issues.

Citation

Ninnes, P., Maxwell, T.W., Rabten, W. and Karchung, K. (2007), "In Pursuit of EFA: Expanding and Enhancing Multigrade Schooling in Bhutan", Baker, D.P. and Wiseman, A.W. (Ed.) Education for All (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 181-199. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3679(06)08006-6