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Saturday 6 December 2014

Rough Road to Education

I have written this article not to boast myself nor to offend anyone in the article.  That is why, I have withheld all the names. I wanted to speak my mind looking back how I grew in my life. 

Since my childhood days, I had a fascination to learn and be educated.  I wanted to be someone better than I was. But my road to education took much more than I would have imagined. I was caught in numerous obstacles one after another. But I never gave up what may come on my way.
Sudden and untimely death of my mother due to a complication of her delivery left my dreams shattered and faraway as my father left me with my grandpa in search of another woman. My youngest sibling from mother could also survive for only
few weeks after my demise of my mother.  The death of my mother and absence of my father was not much felt until my grandpa took his last breathe leaving alone as he loved me so much that he took care of me with so much love and care.
With the demise of grandpa, my life has never been same as before. I was left with no love and care. I had to live with my one of my aunts, my mother’s eldest sister. She had her own children and having difficult time. Though she never discriminated me, I always felt something different in my mind. I joined her family and became a cow herd. Going to school became almost impossible though that was the right time for me to get enrolled. It could have been two possible reasons. The school was too far away from my place, may  have been about 14 to 20km and there was no bordering facility. Second, she even could not send her own daughter to school due to difficulty at home.
Despite of this, my fate to education was not completely vanished as her husband was a former monk. So I was taught the Dzongkha Literature of reading while I looked after their cattle. Within not much time, I was able to read all the alphabets, even some words and sentences. Thus, a seed of my education was sown since then. I landed up being a cowherd with my aunt for about four to five years as could I remember till one day my father came.

I was so attached to my parents since my childhood days, both mother and father. When my father said that I he will take me with him, I was so delighted and happy. I went with him and entered the family of my step family. By then, my step had two, a daughter and son from her previous husband and one from my father. I was welcomed in their family.  Both her children were going to school. Daughter was elder than me and son, just a year younger to me. I was treated well and I feel that I was fortunate to have them as my step family.
When I saw that all the boys and girls of my age in that village were attending school, I would envy them and wished I could go to school too. Here, too I landed up not only looking after cattle of ours but also neighbors. It took another few years of my life to education, meaning I was getting late for any formal modern education.  I used to learn English Alphabets and numbers from my step-brother as we used to be very close like own brother since then. I could read them and knew how to write too. Some of neighbors saw what I used to write and would discuss themselves that, I could be an intelligent if I go to school. I don’t know what actual reason was for father not sending me to school. I remember, overhearing a few times, my step-mother telling my father, if I am admitted in school. He would tell that, as an orphan, school would not be a better but a monkhood could be one possible. But I was neither enrolled in monk nor in school. I was just herding cattle for years.
 One day, god has not forgotten my passion for education when a rich village influential person called me to his house and asked me if I am interested in going to school.  I would call him my god father. Without any further thinking, immediately I responded that I would be very much obliged, if I get an opportunity. Along with me, there was another boy who was age of step-brother. That man found a sponsorship for our education, another rich person from my village. We were taken to his place and told that we would be admitted into school. So my god father took two of us to the nearest school which was about five kilometres away for admission as the schools has already started their academic session. By then, in actual, I was running thirteen years and my friend twelve years. Fortunately, in our census, I was 10 years old and he was 9 years old. However, our fortune was not near. The school authorities informed us that, since that school is very renowned, there was no vacant seat for new students in pre-primary standard. We returned home hopeless and disheartened.
A few weeks later, in a village meeting, a proposal came that, government will start a new school in my village and even took our names those who were still quite young but missed school. I eagerly waited for the day to announce us to join the class. There were now new buildings, but we were told that for the time being, one of the village temples would be used as a classroom. I didn’t know why, but that school never materialized.
After few months, since that school did not come up, our god father suggested that we should try our admission in another school in the next gewog called Dotey Primary School. Our village headman took two of us to that school. The school was about eight to ten kilometer away. The day of fortune fell on us, when the headmaster welcomed us in this school. We were the first to study in that school from our village. I was so glad and happy that, finally I was able to study which was due for so long.
With our admission formalities completed, we are given school uniform and necessaries for our school. We didn’t have to buy any stationery as school was provided. Though, we got our admission, it was already end of August. This means, the academic session was almost coming to end in few more months. During those days, it used to a trimester and our classmates already completed two terms and two exams. They finished learning alphabets, so many words and even sentences and all nursery rhymes.  My previous effort to learn alphabets and numbers came in handy was I was able to read them before I got into school. But I was still short of other parts already completed. My friend knew more than me, because he actually attended school and dropped out.  The reason could be demise of his father and his mother leaving him with his aunts, like me. But unfortunately, his aunt and their family were quite cruel to him which further made his life more miserable.
We were fortunate that when the school decided to conduct a different exams for two of us. We tried our best and finally results came. We both got through to the next level, first standard. Our long distance travel of few months was finally paid.
We were called by our sponsor. They saw our results. I performed better than my friend. They said, if I wish to stay with them and study. I accepted much thought since they were rich, I would not have to work and also I would learn more since they were educated and had no children of their own. I proudly left my father and village. I was enrolled in Motithang Primary school, now called Jigme Namgyel Lower Secondary School. We had classes from pre-primary till fourth standard. I liked the school very much. But, when I actually reached there, I was not without household chores. I had to get up early in the morning, clean the house and go to school. After my school, I had to come back quickly and help their maids to cook meals and clean the house. I would study and complete my homeworks. Sometimes, they would allow me to watch movies with them. I liked the life but I was not free from mental stress as I was living with complete strangers, who were elite in the society and myself coming from one of the rustic villages. The difference was huge.
I remember, my father came to my place once since I left him. He told me to study, not to tell lies, not to steal and listen to them whatever they say. I wished, he could take me back home with him. But I never told him.
I remember I was in class-IE. I really used to work hard. The teachers used to like me a lot. I was able to do better than my class mates though we didn’t have the exams yet. I was taken even to higher schools to read books and papers as they found I would read better than they expected. Ofcourse, since my entering into school, I would pick up everything even from the roadside like thrown away news papers and try to read though I didn’t know what it meant. My life in that school abruptly came to end.
My host family accused me of stealing money from their house. I still remember that I could not think of even attempting to steal. I was so scared that I ran away from their house and slept in nearby house which was within the same campus but I was empty. I wished to go to my village. But I neither had idea to how to travel back nor I had any money. I went back to my host family. I told them I did not steal anything. They refused to believe me. They took me to the police station. Entering into the police station was the most fearful and terrible even in my life. The reason for such fear came from my childhood experience.  One time, when I was small with my father and other, I burnt down a heap of dried pine leaves which nearly burnt our house. I was told by a villager in that village that police would come and imprison me, torture me. Since then, whenever I saw any policeman, I used to get scared.
This time, my host family woman told me that, if I don’t confess to the crime, police would use chains and iron rod to smash my fingers till I confess. Out of fear and due to their threat, I remember, I confessed I stole their money. They asked me where I kept the money. Since, in actual sense, I did not steal, how will I answer where is the money. But I knew one grocery shop near my school. I told them that I used in that shop and finished the money. They took me there. I don’t remember what happened there. Then, they finally took me home and asked me to pack all my things which I brought from Paro. The took me in a car and mentally tortured me telling me I was a thief. I felt so bad because I never steal their money but I was helpless. Finally, I was handed over to my father. Since then, help from my sponsor ended completely.
After a few months, I was again taken back to my previous school. My old school welcomed me without any question. I continued my first standard. Within few weeks, I won the hearts of my teachers. Many teachers felt I stood better over rest in my class. I remember that, sometimes, my class teacher used to ask me to correct the workbook of my classmates whenever he was busy. It was 17th December 1992; I went to receive my academic result. I stood first and also got few notebooks as prize. Since then, I have worked hard amidst all obstacles throughout my entire schooling and was able to complete my university graduation in 2007 and post-graduation in 2009 and now law degree halfway through.






Rough Road to Education

I have written this article not to boast myself nor to offend anyone in the article.  That is why, I have withheld all the names. I wanted to speak my mind looking back how I grew in my life. 

Since my childhood days, I had a fascination to learn and be educated.  I wanted to be someone better than I was. But my road to education took much more than I would have imagined. I was caught in numerous obstacles one after another. But I never gave up what may come on my way.
Sudden and untimely death of my mother due to a complication of her delivery left my dreams shattered and faraway as my father left me with my grandpa in search of another woman. My youngest sibling from mother could also survive for only

Friday 5 December 2014

Is Bhutanese Media really deprived of right to free media???? An analysis on the document produced by

As I browse through the Youtube,  a new short documentary was posted by TheDiplomat titled “Bhutan Fails to Foster Free Media”.  I myself once an amateur broadcast reporter and producer was also later fortunate to have served as an official media spokesperson of my agency and now as an upcoming lawyer, a number of things came into my mind. This is summary of gist of my personal reflections on Bhutanese media.

Article 7 of the Constitution explicitly lays down the freedom of press,
radio and broadcast as one of the fundamental rights. The Article 7 also ensure the right to information to all the citizens. These rights like any other constitutional rights are not absolute but a limited right given to the citizens against the state. Article 7 itself also empowers the state to put reasonable restrictions on specific grounds mentioned or bring in laws to restrict freedom of media as well as citizens. Ofcourse, if any person, legal or natural may if think such restrictions, Article gives the right to challenge the constitutional validity of such restriction either petitioning in the High Court or the Supreme Court. So far, state has not brought any mechanism either through executive or legislations on the freedom of media.

I remember, in early 2000, private newspapers started coming up, Bhutan Times being the first followed by Bhutan Observer. Since then, by late 2000, we had as many as twelve newspapers,  six radio stations and one television station. This excludes number of monthly, quarterly or biannual commercial magazines like Drukpa, Yeewong etc.  It all mushroomed at a time because everyone thought that, there was good business if one starts a private media because, nothing was written much about Bhutan and country was undergoing a sea change, from absolute monarchy to Constitutional Democracy. None of the private media seemed to realize that they were sailing into a ship in a small lake owned by a single company, the state. 

The State also didn't prevent anyone from starting the business. First, the Article of Constitution gives right to every citizen to practice a profession of his choice and gives the freedom of media. And government was also in favour of liberalization of privatization as private sector in Bhutan.

However, with the end of election, the coronation of His Majesty, the Royal Wedding, the fate of survival, quality and sustainability of media became an issue. Some media including the mainstream media Kuensel which is heavily funded by state started to decrease their frequency of publication from daily to thrice a week. Till, that it seemed that media didn't realize that their survival was so much dependent on the so called advertisement of the government. Government could not increase the advertisement budget, instead took numerous measures to reduce the cost was nation was facing a huge economic meltdown. It was also because,  if there was no need to advertise, for the sake of financing media, government could not increase the budget on such activities.
With no sign of improvement, some media requested BICMA to temporarily suspend their production, some went from daily to twice a week and many also requested the government to lift the mandatory publication in Dzongkha. This was followed by retrenchment of employees in some media houses and also numerous experienced journalists leaving the profession for greener pasture elsewhere. These vacant posts were replaced by numerous fresh graduates with some even without the basics on public policy and functioning of the nation. This made the government officials more reserved to supply information as a number of factual wrong in media also came into light showing the infancy of the media.
Thus, in my view, as a nation, Bhutan has not failed the free media. But the way, media functions in the country are to be blamed for both the state and the media houses themselves.
The state failed to put in adequate mechanisms to ensure that establishing a media house is not so simple as one may think. Any person was allowed to apply for license.  State also did not support media in providing adequate skills such as training of media persons for the last one decade since the liberalization of the media in the country. The state could have put in adequate measures such as requiring the applicant to have first certain amount of financial sustainability without relying only on government budget. Second, government could have controlled the license by requiring the media houses to have at least a number of editors as only those with bachelors in journalism. Thirdly, government could have also imposed restrictions on number of applicants in next five or ten years like our telecom service providers. If these measures were taken seriously, not many people would be able to start media houses so easily allowing the existing media to function more efficiently and sustain well.
At the same time, media also made a number of failures in themselves. None of the private media seemed to have carried a thorough reality study on the actual market and their sustainability in long terms, not even for ten years. Secondly, no media house seemed to have done their viability through readership in the country. Even, if all of us read, only about 700000 readers for 12 print media. There were also few who themselves were journalist thought that each of them could start a media house of their own. So some, started media houses themselves. Such move affected themselves as well the previous employer. They themselves had to share the existing state fund and their employee landed up in hiring less experienced person compromising on the quality as well as lost some share of the income with the new one. With such move, some media house even could not pay off the salary of their employees; the profit was too far from them. So, some of the media house died before death. Some started surviving with just one or two reporters and an editor doing everything making the media more vulnerable to disastrous mistakes and poor quality.
A few years ago, I could browse online at least six or seven of our print media. Today, I only do it only three, two virtually dead with updates once in a week or once in two weeks with just six or seven new articles. This means, we are back to two state owned media again, Kuensel and BBS. Thus, I feel it is not a real failure of media and definitely not on free media. If any media person is threatened, it amounts to criminal offence under the Penal Code. Law must take its course in such case.
Way forward
We must understand the loopholes now. India, a population of over 2 billion people, there are only about Eighty Thousand Newspapers including the regional publications.  That means for every three hundred thousand there is one paper or print media. Comparing this, in Bhutan, for every sixty thousand people in Bhutan including expatriates has one print media. Thus, it is very important both the state and media themselves to think of need of number of media in Bhutan. It is time that, media and the government must come to a single point to redraft the concept of media in Bhutan. The media themselves must push the government rather than shying away or running away keeping in the mind the media as one of the most important pillars of any democracy to succeed.
State on the other hand must come up with more conducive policies such as restricting the number of media both print and broadcast for next ten or so years, tax exemptions, advertisement guidelines. State must also provide adequate resources to improve the quality of the journalist through training both outside and inside the country. The political will must be improved through laws such as Right to Information Laws.  Institution of press council of Bhutan would also be one of the options.
The media also need to do some more work. First, they must study thoroughly the sustainability and their capability of running media house. With more and more youth graduating, media now has enough people in the market to choose better media persons with right qualifications and aptitude to serve for a longer term. Media must also ensure to gain the confidence of the public in general and public officials in particular so that they are accessible to more and more information.  Media must also understand that Bhutan is small nation, small population with a strong community bond and shy to talk to any outsider including media in general unlike people in most of our neighboring countries. Media must be responsible enough in handling the information. I had the opportunity to interact not only with national media but also with numerous international journalists over the years. I have found that most of our local reporters do not seem to bother to cross check the information they got. For instance, in 2011, after the interview, I gave my email address and also private number to call me to cross check the information. In spite of that, the report came next day with so many mistakes that the report was completely quoted everything wrong. When I called the reporter, I got the answer that, since they did not have enough articles for that day, the editor published. Media also tend to write quite often only on the basis of few information and often seen as one sided report. It is therefore, important for the media to do more research and investigation into the information they obtained. For instance, a couple of weeks back, BBS reported that some Bhutanese Visa got cancelled in Australia and next morning Kuensel reported otherwise. This is not a minor mistake but complete lack of hard work on the media persons. 

 Thus, in nutshell, its not late yet both for the media and state to revive the declining of media houses in the country. Both must join hand to work keeping in the mind the importance of role of media in any democracy.









Is Bhutanese Media really deprived of right to free media???? An analysis on the document produced by

As I browse through the Youtube,  a new short documentary was posted by TheDiplomat titled “Bhutan Fails to Foster Free Media”.  I myself once an amateur broadcast reporter and producer was also later fortunate to have served as an official media spokesperson of my agency and now as an upcoming lawyer, a number of things came into my mind. This is summary of gist of my personal reflections on Bhutanese media.

Article 7 of the Constitution explicitly lays down the freedom of press,

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