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The modernisation of education in Bhutan is one of the most striking development stories in Asia. In 1961, when the First Five-Year Plan launched the construction of the first network of secular schools, the country had no modern educational institutions whatsoever, and literacy rates were below ten per cent. By the early 21st century, primary enrolment was near-universal, secondary education was widely available, and Bhutan had its own university system. This transformation occurred within the space of two generations and was deliberately orchestrated by the state as a component of a broader project of national modernisation.

Before Modern Education: The Monastic System

Prior to the 1960s, the only formal education available in Bhutan was monastic education. The great dzongs and monasteries operated schools where young monks learned Classical Tibetan, Buddhist philosophy, religious ritual, and basic arithmetic. This system produced a literate and administratively capable clergy — the monks who staffed Bhutan's dual-system government were products of it — but it served only those who entered monastic life and taught nothing of science, geography, modern languages, or secular governance.

Lay literacy was extremely limited. Knowledge of Classical Tibetan, the language of administration and religion, was restricted to the monastic and aristocratic elite. The languages spoken in daily life — Dzongkha, Tshangla, Bumthangkha, and others — had no written literature to speak of, no grammars, no primers. The concept of education as a universal entitlement was entirely absent.

The First Schools: 1914 and the Pre-Plan Period

Modern education in Bhutan did not begin entirely with the Five-Year Plans. The first modern school was established in Haa in 1914 by Gongzim Ugyen Dorji on the instruction of the First King, Sir Ugyen Wangchuck. Teachers from the Church of Scotland Mission in Kalimpong taught alongside a Bhutanese teacher named Karp. In the same year, 46 Bhutanese boys were sent to study at a mission school in Kalimpong, establishing the tradition of overseas education that has continued to the present day. A mobile school followed in Bumthang in 1915, teaching the Crown Prince and other children with Hindi as the medium of instruction.

These early institutions served the children of the elite — the royal family, the nobility, senior officials. By 1919–20, just 28 students were enrolled at Haa and 21 at Bumthang. Modern education remained confined to a tiny fraction of the population. It was the Third King's decision to extend it to all Bhutanese children that transformed the picture.

The Third King's Education Revolution

The First Five-Year Plan (1961–66) launched the construction of a nationwide network of secular schools, initially with Indian teachers and an Indian-influenced curriculum. The Third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, chose English as the medium of instruction — a decision with profound long-term consequences. English provided access to the global knowledge economy and positioned educated Bhutanese to participate in international institutions; it also created tensions with the preservation of Dzongkha and Bhutanese cultural identity that continue to be debated.

The plan period saw schools built in district capitals and eventually in gewog (sub-district) centres. Residential facilities were provided because many children lived too far from schools to attend as day pupils. Indian teachers were gradually replaced by Bhutanese teachers trained at the new National Institute of Education in Samtse. Secondary schools, initially concentrated in Phuntsholing and Thimphu, were established in more districts as enrolment grew.

Expansion and University Education

Successive Five-Year Plans maintained education as a priority. By the 1980s and 1990s, primary school access had been extended to most communities, and the challenge shifted from building schools to improving their quality. The Sherubtse College in Kanglung, Trashigang, opened in 1968 as the first institution of higher education in the country, initially affiliated to Delhi University. The Royal University of Bhutan was formally established in 2003, bringing together Sherubtse and other colleges under a single national university structure.

Gross enrolment rates at the primary level reached near-100 per cent by the 2010s. Gender parity — a particular challenge in many South Asian education systems — was achieved at the primary level and largely at the secondary level, reflecting the state's consistent commitment to girls' education from the early decades of the programme.

Legacy and Tensions

The modernisation of education created the literate, globally connected citizenry that made Bhutan's democratic transition in 2008 possible and that staffs the civil service, private sector, and NGOs that run the modern state. It also created structural tensions that Bhutanese society continues to manage. An educated workforce has consistently outnumbered the available supply of white-collar employment, contributing to youth unemployment and a significant emigration of educated young Bhutanese to Australia, Canada, and other destinations. The dominance of English has created questions about Dzongkha's long-term vitality. And the replacement of monastic education by secular schooling, while it expanded access dramatically, also changed the relationship between Bhutanese society and its religious traditions.

References

Hirayama, Takehiro. "A Study on the Type of School during the Dawn of Modern Education in Bhutan." Bulgarian Comparative Education Society, 2015. ERIC/ED568679.
North Bengal University. "The Growth and Development of Modern Education in Bhutan (1907 to 1997)." Doctoral thesis. ir.nbu.ac.in, accessed 2026.
Friedrich Naumann Foundation. "Bhutan: Overview and Transformation of Education in Bhutan." freiheit.org, accessed 2026.
Global Partnership for Education. "Education in Bhutan." globalpartnership.org, accessed 2026.

Modernisation of Education in Bhutan