The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The country’s first inclusive school is the Changangkha Middle Secondary School (MSS) in Thimphu which started its journey as a general school in 1961, but it became an inclusive School after Her Majesty The Queen Mother Ashi Tshering Pem Wangchuck inaugurated the Special Education Unit in 11 June 2003.
The school currently has a total of 991 students with 143 students with disabilities. It also has an inclusive ECCD with 6 students with disabilities.
Of the 143 students 42 are severe cases, 44 are moderate cases and 57 are mild cases.
In terms of disabilities there are 33 students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), 18 students with Down Syndrome, 18 students with Cerebral Palsy, 15 students with Learning Disabilities, 14 students with Intellectual Disability, 12 students with multiple disorders, 8 students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), 8 students with Speech and Language, 4 students with Global Developmental Delay and the individual cases are Seizure Disorder, Spina Bifida, Sturge Weber, Schizencephaly, Albinism, Dandy Walker, Achondroplasia, Cognitive and 5 students with other cases.
Facilities
In terms of facilities, the students with mild disabilities either do the general curriculum with some modification or adaptations where they are kept with general students’ full time or with occasional push ins. Teachers said that pull out classes where the students are given separate lessons are not currently happening.
The ones with moderate disability are given skills development program with pre-vocational, functional literacy and numeracy. The students here take art classes, cooking classes which include the school café, a tailoring class and laundry classes. They are also given individualized curriculum, life skill education and comprehensive sexuality education.
The ones with severe disability are given a self-contained program of life skill education, daily living skills, individualized curriculum and comprehensive sexuality education. They are kept in self-contained units with five sections of A, B, C, D, E and F with each section having 7 to 9 students and a dedicated Special Education Needs teacher each who spends time with them from morning 8.30 am to lunch time.
The school principal Nyendo Tshering said that they have 26 SEN teachers and apart from the above the other facilities are ramps.
Of the 26 SEN teachers around 7 have Masters’ Degree in Inclusive Education and these and SEN teachers are used by the school as National Trainers to conduct trainings of 3 to 5 days for teachers of inclusive schools around the country.
The principal said that the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) is doing much better and particularly the SEN Division of the Ministry is trying its best. He said the school is set to get more facilities from the Ministry and Thimphu Thromde with more ramps and even a lift to make the school and its facilities more accessible.
The school has 11 children on wheel chairs and 21 with physical difficulties and so the school has also taken its own initiatives to make things accessible but he said that all buildings should have a Universal design to make it accessible.
Adapting to students with disabilities
In terms of how the school is adapting to students with disabilities the Nyendo said they have a one school approach where everyone is involved in helping each other. He said students are sensitized. He gave examples saying how children on wheel chairs are helped, how students move out of the way for those having mobility issues, putting students with albinism in the shade etc.
“I don’t want to differentiate between SEN and non-SEN schools as all schools must be inclusive.”
He said while there are 26 SEN teachers even the general teachers are also sensitized.
“We need empathy more than sympathy,” said Nyendo and he encouraged parents to make a long-term plan or dream for their children.
When asked how the school is addressing the issue of bullying, Nyendo said that back in 2016 they did a situational analysis survey and found that 16% of all students experienced bullying and so the school carried out various intervention measures and that number has now dropped to 4%.
The principal said that in fact two parents who are in the UN with a general child admitted him in Changangkha to experience an inclusive school.
Challenges and needs
In terms of challenges, Nyendo said the school is short by 12 SEN teachers based on what the ratio of teachers and students with disability should be.
The reporter observed that for the mild cases in mainstream classrooms there was only one teacher teaching all students and so there was no additional teacher to focus on the mild cases as the international best practice is to have a teacher assistant who can help in these areas.
The school is also impacted by the introduction of board exams in class 6 and 8 and adding math as a must pass. Now teachers are stressed out and do not know weather to focus more on the general students or help the SEN students in the main class. While SEN students are not counted in the RCSC IWP ranking the time needed for them is not taken into account.
The forced ranking and needs improvement may end up doing much harm to SEN students as teachers will be forced to focus on mainstream students. This was partly visible in one class the reporter visited where an overwhelmed teacher asked the SEN coordinator to put one of the mild cases to in the severe or vocational category.
Nyendo said the school needs a lot of accessible infrastructure like accessible toilets, policy support from concerned stakeholders and a separate budget head for inclusive schools.
The principal said one of the big issues is the transition after Changangkha as they have to be transitioned out after 18 years or class 10 and right now, they have nowhere to go. Some are taken by Draktsho but here too the ones with behavioral issues are sent home as they cannot manage them.
Motithang HSS was supposed to be the transitional inclusive school for Changangkha since 2023 but nobody has gone there.
Given the transition issues the Changangkha school will be getting classes 11 and 12 as inclusive classes in the 13th plan.
The other challenges for the school are admission pressure for children with disabilities, shortage of classrooms, maintaining class size and increased number of severe children.
As mentioned above the pull-out classes for the mild students are no longer happening. With more severe cases the school had to build temporary classrooms and SEN teachers are taken away from mild and moderate cases.
Issues are also limited technical professionals to develop customized curriculum or programs, limited resources to meet individual needs (computers, devices and etc.) and lack of inclusive planning.
To deal with the issue of too many admissions Nyendo recommended for more inclusive schools in Thimphu Thromde which was supported by the Thimphu Thromde and MoESD which came up with the five inclusive schools of Sherabgatshel Primary School, Dechencholing Higher Secondary School, Taba Lower Secondary School, Changzamtok Middle Secondary School and Loselling Middle Secondary School in 2024.
The oldest and most experienced SEN teacher in Changangkha is Chimi Lhamo and she said for inclusive education to work the support from Principals are very important as she met SEN teachers from inclusive schools in certain Dzongkhags where the teachers were struggling without proper support. She said that Principal Nyendo is very supportive.
She also said it is more important to educate the general students and teachers to be aware and inclusive towards SEN students.
