FIRST ONLINE GNH COURSE FOR BHUTANESE YOUTH
The Gross National Happiness Centre Bhutan (GNHCB) launched the first national online GNH course for Bhutanese youth to commemorate Drugyal Zhipa’s 65th Birth Anniversary and the National Happiness Day. The event was graced by Her Royal Highness Gyalsem Kesang Chodren Wangchuck who is also the President of the Centre with other key guests. In partnership with Rigpah, it is the first online course on GNH delivered in Bhutan as part of the Centre’s mandate for all Bhutanese to understand this unique philosophy and how it guides nation building. With the current COVID -19 pandemic, youth are the most impacted, with their education at great risk. According to the latest available data from UNESCO, 1.57 billion students have been affected by school closures in more than 190 countries worldwide.
At the launch event, Her Highness stressed the need for more creative learning avenues to keep Bhutanese youth positively occupied. The GNHCB said the student learning course is offered free on Rigpah and hopes it will benefit all young Bhutanese. Despite the global challenges presented by COVID-19, the GNHCB continues its efforts taking GNH deeper in Bhutan and to the world. The GNH Online Learning will engage students and youths meaningfully, while gaining understanding of our age old values. This course is designed to offer a user-friendly and interactive session with the use of audio-visual graphics providing a new learning experience for students and youth.
The GNHCB plans to develop more online programmes for a wider audience under different wellbeing and happiness thematic areas. The GNH Learning which has been in development starts as a pilot programme this year. This is one small step towards realizing the collective vision of seeing Bhutan as a true GNH society and nation.