Annual Concert

The Twenty-seventh and eighth of September are the days when Darla school celebrated its annual concert day. The preparations of these days begun almost two to three weeks in advance with lots of rehearsals. The whole school remained busy and much more active. Since the Darla weather becomes pleasant during this time of the year, the enjoyment increases tremendously. But unfortunately, in the evenings it rained cats and dogs. That didn’t deter people from coming to watch the show. The MPH was full by 6 pm.

The function began at 6 p.m. as per the schedule. First of all, our cultural coordinator welcomed the Chief Guest, and other guests and the audience. He also spoke about varieties of interesting items lining up in the program. The two-day varieties show went on to the next day. There were Boedras, Zhungdras, Rigsars, English dances, Hindi, Nepali, Bamboo dances, fashion shows, etc.

The program would have been interesting if the emcee told a short but very hilarious speech full of anecdotes in-between, which everyone would like the most.

The concert was conducted to incalculate wholesome education.

The audience must have enjoyed the concert tremendously, judging from the loud applause as the curtains dropped. The Bamboo dance performed by class VI boys and girls was very beautiful. The music was loud and appeasing one.

Looking at the audience response, everyone enjoyed the concert very much. I am very surprised that there were so many talented students in this school.

It was a well-organized show; students, teachers, and students parents also admired it.  Though the cost of the ticket was a bit costly. Every student had to pay nu.80 to watch an evening show, which is par beyond some disadvantaged parents.  All of my class four students couldn’t watch the program, as they said that nu. 80 were too much for all of their brothers and sisters to watch. I really felt sorry for them.

Teachers’ Crumb

People summarize that every Tom, Dick, and Harry can teach. It doesn’t comprise the components of who really is a teacher. There are teachers who just teach and who truly teach. And there are teachers who teach only in their lesson plan, and who plan the lesson for teaching.

Sometimes, educationists, even themselves unjustly stereotyped their mates. For example, I have my previous heads, who, otherwise could have to inspire, come with obscure remarks, “Anyone can teach.”  This in- fact make teachers wobbly and morally dishearten. A good teacher who, whole-heartedly has been teaching effectively in the class using varieties of instructional materials and teaching approaches, who tries to change the life of each student better is categorize in the same with those who even do not go to the classes.

I feel this leads to unrefined, unpolished, raw teachings. The whole process of teachings becomes casual and at last, lost his/her good rapport with his/her students and the school and the communities.

In Bhutanese culture and traditions, and as per the sect of our religion, and its perspective, Bhutanese teachers were always kept high above their status and always looked upon as moralist and kind of genius by our society, which therefore had an adverse effect on the quality of education.

But this regard of high esteem and honor has disappeared. Some people see this as the outcome of development and the change of time. The credit to be individually acclaimed and forget about who curves and shapes their lives. We must assimilate our respect to the person for what he/she does then what he/she has. The nation, sometimes never inquired that who is behind everything to curve and build up.

I would like, therefore, defense tersely here that the teachers should have space. A good space, who clean the muddle channel, and drain to create a good space for every individual.

Teachers must be uplifted and preferred as they are never relieved of his/her responsibilities even in their vacations. Besides daily lesson plans and eight hours of teaching, paper corrections, assessments,  numerous activities line up; sports, cultural, SUPW, literary, etc. The lists go on. They are parents, guides, exemplars, etc. They must remain in formal dress and discipline throughout their lives. It is like more work, less reward. Actually, only exclusive teaching could have been the only teacher’s job.

A teacher is seen as a silent and very minute-thing- in the kingdom of various jobs, and by and by considering less important that “Everyone can teach” is shockingly taken unquestionably true and legitimate by many people. If we look at ourselves judiciously, the teacher is upon exhibition observed by thousand of curious imitating eyes called students. Teachers, therefore, have great personalities and they are paragons like our great leaders.

The school is a microcosm in society and teachers are spirit in it. They are governed by a strong adherence called code of conduct and ethics.

Besides imparting knowledge and information, a teacher makes their world a better place to live in. A good philosopher that he/she understands life and furnishes leadership measures in society.

A teacher is a master of teaching and at the same time possesses the fundamental knowledge of all subjects. John Adam said, “The verb of teaching governs two accusatives-the subject and the pupils.”

Teaching demands high intelligence and intellectual curiosity. He/she should reasons, tackles and solves problems successfully.

For these motives, a teacher should be fluent in expression, good in writing as well. A teacher is always enthusiastic in three ways; in child study, in his subject, and in the matter of method, as he/she lives with them.

Teaching is a deliberate, intentional act requiring strong professional and personal qualities? Does he/she have professional enhancement from time to time? Not so. He/she supplements the role of parents in the school. A teacher's influences last eternally and his/her effects are always constructive to bring social change.

Hence in short, a teacher advises guides, teaches, etc. He/she is the most useful tool to his/her social life; he/she is trustworthy, qualified, hardworking, intelligent, cooperative, disciplines and helps the school’s students, administration and the society as a whole.

Lemme Limp (Imported Culture)

Lemming is a doomed conformist, who blindly follows others and brings destruction to all. Are we ambiguous? Are we easily influenced? If so, our rich cultural heritages will be invisible in the lives of Bhutanese in a while, and it will have acquired new forms and meanings that will implant it with contemporary importance.

Culture is important and it has become a pivotal approach for the county’s survival. Sikkim was not subjugated because of weak rulers, land, or religion, but because of its flimsy cultural resistance. Sikkim had a similar culture to that of brother India. So it was easy to put on their map. I think we survive because of diversity; we must maintain our unique diversity to live on happily and not necessarily import others to become one.

Many of our spiritual practitioners believe that the culture is the faith to the god. They pursue and peruse from far across the borders and what they practice would have cultural effects in our country. That’s why we mixed religion with traditions. Our culture was never and was ever a religion. The faith or belief to the god is little or no distinct to culture. The culture is our traditions, customs, and ways of life. Our civilizations, ethos, and philosophies are all our culture, but not the religion. We take care of culture, and by and by the religion has become a culture. Culture has dominated religion. It is not the real religion. Suppose our lifestyle; the ceremonials, rituals, and festivals are just our formal procedure, and I would like to say they are only religious convictions.

Ask anyone. “Does religion change?” the answer would be obvious “NO.” But inconsiderate thinkers may feel that religion changes. That is, as a result, our culture keeps on changing. We can’t really catch up with the culture. Different cultures will keep on trespassing in, owing to different times. What makes Bhutan Bhutanese? It’s our unique culture. It’s our unique citizens. It’s our ethos and values of our life. It’s our culture, not religion.

But in this globalized world, we have brought in many different cultures and practices. Bishwas Karma Puja was not a Buddhist culture for instance. The noisy loud Hindi music is never our way of musicking. We never decorated vehicles with appliqué clothes and sindoor on our Lhakhangs. We have a simple way of doing our own rituals, like sprinkling holy water, lighting incense sticks to the car or any object. What we called ‘Lhapsang.’

I am concerned with this, in Bhutan some think, embarking on development means embarking on other cultures and traditions. Especially our young people are inclined to exploit and expose to all other values and beliefs. Change doesn’t mean adapting to other cultures and losing one’s cultures.

Bhutanese Losars, mask dances, etc are gradually taken over by Christmas, Diwali, free dance styles and violence. Indian and Western films, songs, cultures have made our ways. They were never a mass culture of a Buddhist country like ours. These cultures have intercepted and became a serious norm nowadays. People talk of GNH, conserving traditions, culture, peace, and tranquility. I think being in what we have is the basic GNH of all. There is no need of adopting ideas in cultural and spiritual heritage simply because they come from developed and powerful countries. We have rich values in ourselves already.

These coming months are the month of festivals, crops are being harvested, Tshechus are coming up in many Dzongkahgs, Birth Anniversary of fourth king celebration, but nothing would be most enjoyable than Dausheri to many people. It is celebrated everywhere, in the school compound, in the street, in the village, everywhere. I remember people dancing to the Hindi music, getting drunk, and shaking like Shakira. Everyone would laugh, and all would enjoy. That was happiness. We get happiness from others’ values which are not our internal happiness. We are masala; mixtures of so many other items. We are interested to behave like others. But do Indians, Korean, English, etc dance our type of dances? They may not have heard about our traditional dances, forget about making them dance.

For a few weeks from now, a singing of Bailoram, Dausheri will almost knock you out from the peaceful sleep. The distant song of Dausheri would remind us of a picturesque scene from some sort of Ramayana film we watched. We barely would open our eyes, as it might be midnight. We would sleep thinking, ‘Why is Bhutan only India? And why is India not Bhutan?’

Note: This is the article I posted already in 2013. (http://saachad9.blogspot.com/2013/11/lemme-limp-imported-cultures.html). Little changes have been made.

Reading Week

Darla school observed reading week from 8-13^th September. We have designed different activities for different classes. We have random reading, selected reading, book talk, quiz, and mass reading. Our theme of the reading week this year was ‘Learn to Read and Read to Learn.’ And there is nothing that we had to explain on this theme.  We also said ‘Read Charo Read’ so that they could read and share with their friends, encourage friends to read, and learn something.

This year we had Readers Theater by classes’ pp-III. It was nice to see them reading and acting. We awarded them prizes for their hard works. We also had one English and Dzongkha reading every day by the assigned classes. And followed by a book review and quiz. One of the most interesting parts of our reading section this year was mass reading. On Friday, we deducted five minutes from each period and made time for the mass reading after the seventh period. For one hour, everyone; both teachers and students came out from the class and read outside. Some sat in a round circle and read with their class teachers. Some even sat on the steps and read. Some walk and read. It was quite interesting to see students and teachers engrossed in reading something.

I have this rhetoric question now. “Am I reading enough?”  Yes, I have been reading, and I have read hundreds of books. My bookshelves are filled with all old collections of books beginning from Hardy’s novels, Dickens, Chekhov’s work, and the latest books of Robin Sharma, Paulo Colhoe, etc. I encourage my students too. Paradoxically, I feel, a man is the richest in the world, even if he has nothing. He has a royal casino to Casanova, top to bottom wealth and he commends thousands of men. You can call him the man of plenty because he does plentiful reading.

You know, the amount of tang you get is more than what I would like to call ‘loose talks,’ because in these ‘loose talks’ we always ridicule, make fun and talk about desires and illicit relationship, and not so good a word-gibberish.

In the book, you are informed of many things. You can be a player of all characters.

Let me end with the E.A Filne line, “When a man’s reading is finished, he is finished.”

I will leave here with some of our reading week shots.

 

This year theme

Reading Schedule

Mass reading

Mass Reading

Mass Reading

Mass Reading

Reading

Reading

And reading