Unpacking the Impacts of Westernisation on Bhutan’s Education Policies -A Call for the Infusion of Core Bhutanese Values in the Education Reform

Abstract

ABSTRACT Bhutan’s developmental priorities have evolved to attune with the national needs and global environment. The education policies have also changed, as evident from several policy documents and guidelines. It is apparent that the education policies and practices are primarily influenced by Western thoughts and ideologies. This transpired from the country’s emerging engagements with the international actors and its resultant phenomenon of policy borrowing and emulations of best practices. While sharing educational philosophies and policies are pervasive, without careful attention to the critical ideas of contextualisation and appropriate recognition of local values, policy borrowing can be counterproductive to national aspirations. With the rapid socio-economic development in the country as it emerges as an active participant in global affairs, the Bhutanese youths are exposed to foreign influences and cultures. There is a potential risk of losing the country’s rich repository of value systems if the education policies are not adapted to re-emphasise on inculcation of core Bhutanese values in education systems. Given the education reform agenda espoused by His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the 5th King of Bhutan, this paper reviews the national education policy documents with specific reference to the Quarterly Education Policy Guidelines from 1988 to 2020, which is considered an equivalent of policy directives in the absence of an Education Act. The paper populates on an apparent loss of the local values to the burgeoning Western models for educational efficiencies. It renews an emphasis on the traditional values in the education reform policies for Bhutan. Keywords: Globalization, local values, national ideologies, education, reform