Significance of May 2nd as Teachers’ Day in Bhutan.
While the whole world celebrates teachers’ day generally on 5th October, there are countries that have adopted different dates to mark the same according to their national significance. For instance India our immediate neighbor country celebrates its national teachers’ day on 5th September, which is the birth date of the second president of India Dr. Saevepalil Radhakrishnan who was born in 1888.
Like wise Nepal our next immediate neighbor celebrates its national teachers’ day on a full moon day of Ashad which is also called Ashad suika purnima- the date which usually falls in mid –July. The day is called ‘Guri Purnima’ where ‘Guru’ means ‘teacher’ and ‘purnima’ means full moon.
In the similar way Bhutan celebrates its National Teachers’ Day on 2nd May, which marks the Birth Anniversary of His Majesty The Third King of Bhutan –His Majesty King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck. In the history of Bhutan The Third King is known as the Father of Modern Bhutan, and especially for the Education fraternity he is known as The Father of Modern Education in Bhutan.
His Majesty The Third King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck was born on May 2, 1929 at Thruepang Palace in Trongsa. In his reign of Bhutan for 20 years from 30th March 1952 to 21 July 972, he transformed Bhutan significantly introducing democratic system since then to the modern developments in Bhutan. Unfortunately he demised in Nairobi in Kenya in 1972 while he was on a safari In the forest of the Africa.
It is 88 years now after His Birth Anniversary, we the Bhutanese have not forgotten the birth of a great man who changed the fate and destiny of the many Bhutanese then and now.
In 2029 we would be celebrating the 100 years of His Majesty’s Birthday and I tell you that Bhutan and Bhutanese shall make it one of its kind of a Birth Anniversary and the Teachers’ Day too.
We celebrate the National Teachers’ Day to either pay our respect to the teachers past, present and future who have sacrificed, made a difference and who are sacrificing, making a difference and teachers who will be sacrificing and making a difference in the lives of many who had, are and will be building the Nation.
By celebrating May 2nd as Teachers’s Day we would not only be paying respect to the great human being in the form of our Third King but we will be paying respects to all the great souls who come in the form of teachers playing with Chalk and Duster, Notebooks and Teskbooks, Lesson Plans and Home Work corrections, challenging their own emotional, mental, and physical health to over come the challenges of the emotional, mental and physical health of the students.
Teachers who work beyond 9 to 5 hours of the regular schedule, those hearts who worry endlessly when the board examinations knock on the gates, the people who ignore their own children at times for the sake of other children under their care, those brave souls who fight the wintry cold and summary heat to be in the classrooms, those souls who walk for hours on end to reach to their destination yet their love of the profession take them there.
For this very reason we need to celebrate the so called TEACHERS.
In a beautiful message by Hon’ble Sherig Lyonpo Norbu wangchuck to the teachers across the country on the Teachers’ Day 2017, he says teachers live a life, which is not ordinary, and for this very reason teachers mean a whole lot for the Nation. And for this very reason, he says teachers should play the role which none can play. The role of building the nation BUILDER in short.
Coincidentally. There is another country that marks the national teachers’ day on 2nd may and its Iran. They mark the day after Dr. Morteza Motahhari who was an Iranian cleric, philosopher, lecturer, and politician and who was assassinated on 1st May.
karmachoden 