The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Out of the five inclusive schools identified in 2024 by the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) and Thimphu Thromde, this issue focuses on Taba Lower Secondary School (LSS) and Changzamtok Middle Secondary School.
Taba LSS
The school has classed PP to 8 and while it was identified as an inclusive school in 2024 the school was always pro-active on this front, as it had received a student with disability around a few year ago.
The school had initially advised the parents to put the child in Changangkha MSS, but the parents never did as they felt the daughter had adjusted well at the school.
The Taba LSS Principal, Sherab Dema, since then kept seeking resources and information to help the child, and is the only inclusive school in 2024 that voluntarily came forward to get an inclusive status.
The school has a total of 579 students, and so far, it has 8 students with disabilities ranging from autism, Down syndrome and intellectual disability.
3 of the 8 students are in PP, with 2 being in the severe category and are mainly kept with teachers on rotation in a separate room, with occasional mainstream classes, and one is managing in the mainstream class.
One is in class 3, 3 students are in class 5 and 2 are in class 8 including one how has albinism.
The school has a pull out room and also a sensory room. The writer visited the more moderate cases in their mainstream classes where they were sitting with other mainstream students. Their curriculum is lighter than the general students.
The teachers were given between 3 to 5 days training.
In terms of how the school is adapting to differently abled students, the Inclusive Education Coordinator teacher said that since the teachers are new, there are some challenges but they are trying their best.
According to the teacher, parents have observed notable progress in their children with disabilities.
The teacher also provide sensitization sessions to parents during the parent-teacher meeting.
In terms of the challenges and support needed, the teacher said they need more knowledge and training since it can get challenging when they are catering to a child and do not know their needs.
A total of four teachers, the Vice Principal and the Principal have undergone training.
The school said that the Special Education Needs (SEN) teachers are taking both mainstream and SEN classes. and it would be good if they can get some full time SEN teachers.
The Principal said they while they officially have 8 students with disabilities, they suspect 11 more student might also have disabilities, and the aim is to get the support of the parents so that the students can be professionally assessed.
Changzamtok MSS
The Changzamtok Middle Secondary School (MSS) from classes PP to 10 has 1,493 students.
The school officially has 9 students with disabilities, with 7 severe cases in class PP diagnosed with autism, Down syndrome and being non-verbal. There is also one student with Intellectual Disability in class 3 and another one in class 7.
Although there is a student that needs to be assessed in class 6, however, the parents have refused to accept it so far, and want the student to attempt and pass the board exam.
Changzamtok MSS is in the process of assessing some students, and so far, there are around 20 more suspected cases of Learning Disability and Intellectual Disability.
While the Taba LSS took the approach of mainly keeping the 2 severe cases in the PP mainly separate with teachers rotating, Changzamtok MSS has taken a different approach with the 7 severe cases in PP.
The students are split in groups of 2 and 3 and they kept along with mainstream students till around lunchtime.
The Vice Principal (VP), Mamita Bhandari, who is also the Inclusive Education Coordinator said they tried keeping them separately with rotating teachers in separate rooms, but they found the lack of socialization with general students was not improving them.
The moment they were kept back with the general students, there were improvements noticed.
The inclusive teachers including the VP are so committed that they spend their own money to buy chart papers, colours and toys for the students with disabilities.
The Vice Principal said that in terms of physical infrastructure, the school needs ramps, disable-friendly toilets for children with disabilities.
8 teachers from the school including the VP got a 3-day training and they have made a roster between themselves.
In terms of how the school is adapting to kids with disabilities, the VP said that right now there are just a few numbers of kids with disabilities, and they are getting familiar with it.
The VP said that everybody is trying to get familiarized and used to it. The VP said the students attend the morning assembly, which is inclusive.
In terms of challenges and needs, the VP said they need resources and materials and also specialized SEN teachers for inclusive education, as the 3 to 4 days training for general teachers is not enough and teachers can’t do much.
She said since the teachers have to teach both general and inclusive classes, it is difficult and challenging and they cannot give their 100 percent.
She said they don’t have a defined curriculum, but they are observing the children’s likes and dislikes and are building on that. She said for the more severe ones, they need to focus more on functional skills, like how to stay in a group, taking turns, etc.
She said that they also need vocational curriculum, like in Changangkha MSS, like tailoring, laundry, baking, etc., which they currently don’t have.
At both Taba LSS and Changzamtok MSS, parents of students with more severe disabilities wait outside classrooms for the entire duration of their children’s lessons, much like the dedicated parents at Changangkha MSS.
