karmachoden

Eulogy on the demise of Shakespeare from Bhutanese curriculum

My thoughts on the removal of Shakespeare from our curriculum. I was feeling nostalgic going through Shakespeare’s works and most  importantly I was flipping though the pages of Julius Caesar which actually motivated me to write the following lines:

Friends, Bhutanese, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Shakespeare, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Shakespeare.
Our noble curriculum reviewers hath told you Shakespeare was archaic;
And grievously hath the Bhutanese English curriculum answered it.
Here under the leave of curriculum reviewers and the rest,
For curriculum reviewers are honourable men;
So are they all, all honourable men-
Come I to speak in Shakespeare’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me;
And curriculum reviewers say he was archaic,
And curriculum reviewers are honourable men.
Shakespeare hath brought many linguistics integration to Bhutan,
Whose ransom did Shakespeare’s coffer fill:
Did in this Shakespeare seem archaic?
When the thirsty learners have sought,
Shakespeare hath quenched the thirst;
Yet curriculum reviewers say Shakespeare was archaic.
And curriculum reviewers are honourable men.
I speak not to disapprove the curriculum reviewers,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You did love Shakespeare once not with out cause:
What causes withholds you not to mourn his removal?
O judgement, thou art fled to unreasonable thoughts,
And men have lost their reasons.
Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Shakespeare,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

In response to Mr. Wangcha Sangay’s post on “Please Quit the Education Ministry”

Dear Mr. Wangcha Sangay,

I have always followed your post very religiously and almost every time admired your boldness and guts in writing about everything under the sun and above the earth without any hesitation. But this time I am sorry to say I don’t agree with the way you wrote about Sherig Lyonpo and how you construed the meaning of the justifications Sherig Lyonpo gave at the Question –Answer Session of the National Council.

You see most of the times people are under the denial state and always try to sweep things under the carpet. Most of the time we don’t want to accept that there is a problem and because we do not want to admit that there are problems we do not come up with any solutions as well.

It is only in accepting that there are problems that we can come up with solutions to overcome the problems and I guess Sherig Lyonpo is only trying to admit that there are problems for which we need to find solutions. It only shows his concern about the grave situation that we are in and how best we can answer such situation so as to mold our youth in ways that is envisioned from the throne. In no way I see Sherig Lyonpo shaming our youth, Education Ministry, Parents and nation by admitting that we have problems. Let’s accept it, own it and let’s face it if we feel the need to move ahead.

And for your kind information, Sherig Lyonpo wasn’t being just loud mouth as you seem to refer him to. The fact that there are 50% of the youth abusing drugs (drugs here is inclusive of all substance starting from Chewing Tobacco, Cigarette, various inhalants and others) is true and it has been derived based on the average of the survey carried out by sampled schools in urban areas.  These figures may not suggest that 50% of our youth are full time addicted on drugs but it is something for everyone to think about and especially for an Education Minister it is a matter of huge concern for its on his shoulder the burden lies to strategize the answers to such problems.

And yes 33.5% of the students were stunted due to malnutrition in 2010 as per the National Nutrition Survey, 2015. This figure has dropped down to 16.6% in 2015 but still some disparity in different regions. For instance, the prevalence rate of stunting is 20% in eastern region while it is 14.9 % and 14.2% respectively in western and central region. There is a disparity even in rural and urban areas as in 20.8% in the former and 11.9% in the later.

You see what matters is the fact that Sherig Lyonpo cares and because he cares he is willing to accept the fact and admit it publicly. Don’t you think it is the duty of everyone to support and work towards achieving one common goal of improving the quality of our youth? And for that first we need to accept the fact and admit it.