The Thimphu Thromde Education Office and the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) identified 5 additional inclusive schools in 2024, and the schools have started admitting in children with disabilities, mainly from Pre- Primary onwards.
This issue focuses on the sister schools of Sherabgatshel Primary School (PS) in Dangrina and Dechencholing Higher Secondary School (HSS) in Dechencholing.
Sherabgatshel Primary School
The Sherabgatshel PS started this year on its own new campus, both as a primary school from Pre-Primary to Class 3 with 590 students and also as an inclusive school.
The school is a sister-school for the Dechencholing HSS from which it had been split to both decongest Dechencholing HSS, and at the same time, give Sherabgatshel more space.
The School Principal, Pema Dorji, said the school caters to the North Thimphu cluster areas of Dechencholing, Kabesa, extending to Hejo and beyond.
He said even before the school became inclusive, it had 4 children with disabilities who were supposed to be admitted to Changangkha MSS, but once Sherabgatshel PS became an inclusive school, they retained the students, given the far distance the students would have to travel.
As an inclusive school, the teachers identified potential disability cases among the general students who were sent to the JDWNRH for assessment. The results showed that of the 44 students tested, around 40 had various disabilities.
5 students were found to have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), 2 had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), 1 had Cerebral Palsy (CP), 6 had Intellectual Disability, 7 had learning disability, 16 were slow learners and 3 were slow learners with chronic medical conditions.
It must be pointed out that it was not widely known that Sherabgatshel PS would be an inclusive school, and so it had largely accepted mainstream student admission.
In terms of facility, the school has a sensory room with mats on the floor, so that children with disabilities can come there to experience a calm environment. This also serves as a pull out classroom where the students with disabilities are pulled out so that they can get separate lessons. There is another such room for future use.
In terms of teachers, the Principal said 3 teachers and the Vice Principal and Principal received 5-day training in Bhutan and further exposure in India. There are also some online courses that the teachers can learn from. The school has an 8-member Inclusive Education Team. 3 of the teachers are more into Special Education Needs (SEN) education, of which one is a full-time SEN teacher.
The school takes an inclusive mainstream approach and so children with disabilities are kept with general children. The Principal said that somehow almost all his general teachers have also been trained.
The Principal said that in the beginning, it was a bit difficult for the students to adjust as the mainstream students had to be sensitized about the children with different needs. Now, the students understand each other better and there is a level of empathy.
The school says it needs professional and well trained 10 to 12 SEN teachers but they are not available, and hopefully by next year, a few can be hired with support from the RCSC and Paro College of Education.
The Principal said he has noted improvements in the children with disabilities after coming to school as every little improvement over time is beneficial to help the child grow.
He said there are a lot of expectations from the parents, and the school needs to meet them.
The advantage for the school is that it has a new building and structure and so there are enough rooms, a working lift, and the ministry is making provisions to have a ramp and other facilities so that the school is better prepared in the future. More importantly, the school has a Principal and teachers who are willing and open to make the small but important changes for children with disabilities.
The Principal said that a heartening thing is that the issue of SEN education and inclusive education has got a lot of attention and push in the last few years.
Dechencholing HSS
Dechencholing HSS became an inclusive school in 2024, and has classes 4 to 12 and is meant to take in primary students from its sister-school of Sherabgatshel. It has around 1,400 students.
The school, at the beginning, did not have any student with disability, but given that it had become an inclusive school, it, like Sherabgatshel PS, carried out rapid assessment tests through its teachers, and sent the suspected cases to JDWNRH where they were diagnosed.
The result showed that 58 students had disabilities, with 6 having Intellectual Disability, 9 having Learning Disability and 43 having Specific Learning Disability, which are to do with certain subjects. The students are present in classes 4 to 10.
Again, just like Sherabgatshel PS, if such assessments are run in other general schools too then similar or even more numbers of such cases would come out showing that disability in Bhutan is still like a hidden iceberg with only a few visible.
The Principal, Tashi Gyeltshen, said when it comes to disabled-friendly infrastructure, they have a long way to go. He said that if children cannot handle the normal curriculum then they should be given the alternative curriculum, and if needed the skills too for which equipment will be needed.
The Principal said that at the moment, the school has only moderate and mild cases, and so these students are being given pull out classes in a special pull out classroom by teachers who received the 5-day SEN training in Changangkha MSS.
The Principal said the pull out classes allow children to get individualized learning, and in the future, there will be opportunities to master some skills so that children with disabilities can pursue other passions, like music, cooking, etc.
The Principal said that at the moment, one challenge is that the level of acceptance by the parents is very less, as they are initially not able to accept that their child has some disability, but after some engagement with the parents, they are more accepting and even willing to support which is important as there needs to be support from parents and caregivers at home too.
A teacher and SEN coordinator at the school said that she would advocate that parents not punish or hit their children whether differently abled or even a general child at home for not doing well, as it only harms the child.
The reporter saw a student with Learning Disability being given a class in the pull out room by a teacher using flash cards and a writing board.
The SEN coordinator at the school said that children with learning and intellectual disabilities like the pull out class. She said the Principal is very supportive and so asked for the sensory room to be made ready this year, itself, instead of waiting till the more severe cases from Sherabgatshel or other schools come from next year onwards.
The plan is to create one more sensory rooms with facilities.
In terms of resources, the school has a team of teachers who received the short-term SEN training, and so, they are mainly general teachers managing both normal and SEN classes. This means a higher workload for them but they are still doing it.
In terms of how the school is adapting to differently abled students, the Principal said that advocacy plays a very important role here. He said it is very important to brief other students. Also, if students with disability cannot do well in one area, then they must explore other areas where they might do better.
He said due to advocacy, other students also come forward and express the difficulties they face.
In terms of challenges, he said it is in terms of facilities or infrastructure, which has to be disabled- friendly, incase down the line they get someone on a wheel chair, etc.
The other challenge he said is that down the line, they expect diverse learners and so they need the facilities for that and also the SEN teachers.