𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐏𝐮𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐞𝐲𝐮𝐥 𝐊𝐮𝐧𝐳𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐀𝐭 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤

…𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

By Kinzang Lhamo

Baeyul Kunzang Primary School in Chukha, once a vital institution serving students from areas as far as Lhamozhingkha, is now facing possible closure, with only six students enrolled across four class levels. Community members worry that the continued downgrade of the school is discouraging families from staying, potentially leading to more abandoned homes if no action is taken.

Established in 1993, the school once thrived with over 100 students and several teachers. Today, it is managed by a single teacher who handles classes from Pre-Primary to Class III in one room, reflecting the sharp decline in enrolment and its effect on the community.

“Our school has been here since 1993 and served students from as far as Lhamozhingkha until 2015. Even now, all six students studying here are from our own chiwog, Bjimichu, Geduphu, and Baeyul Kunzang,” said Dorji, the Tshogpa of Baeyul Kunzang. “It may be small, but it is still a vital institution for the children of our community.”

Parents and community leaders are increasingly concerned that the school’s recent downgrade to an Extended Classroom, following the removal of Class IV this year, could be the first step toward full closure. According to them, this would place a heavy burden on families with young children, who would need to travel between 30 and 90 kilometers to reach the nearest schools in Pakshikha, Lhamozhingkha, or Tala.

“If this school closes, our young children will have to travel between 30 to 90 kilometers to reach the nearest schools. For families here, especially with small children, that would be a major burden,” Dorji added.

Although the school is small, it is equipped with essential facilities including electricity, drinking water, a playground, and classrooms that could accommodate up to Class VI. However, the lack of upper primary classes and fewer new enrolments have contributed to the gradual outmigration of families. Many parents now rent temporary homes in nearby towns to ensure their children can continue their education, leaving behind their homes and farmland.

“Our lone teacher is fully supported by the community, and we parents actively participate in all school activities,” said Tshulthrim Dorji, a member of the School Management Board. “But ever since Class IV was removed this year and the school was downgraded to an Extended Classroom, some families have already moved out and a few houses are now locked.”

He explained that several parents are now living in Darla so that their children can study in Classes IV and V. This, he said, threatens the unity and future of the community.

“If this school gets closed completely, the number of gungtong cases in our village will only rise,” Tshulthrim Dorji said. “We are not asking for anything beyond our reach. We just want the school to continue so our children can stay here and our community can survive.”

The school’s decline is also felt by former residents like Phub Dem, who now lives in Thimphu. Once a student at Baeyul Kunzang Primary School herself, she recalls a time when the school had over 113 students and five to six teachers. The current situation, she said, is disheartening.

“It is disheartening to see that the same school now has only six students,” said Phub Dem. “My children also studied there for a while, and it takes just five to ten minutes from our house to the school. But during summer, the monsoon would wash away the roads, and my daughter struggled a lot to reach school, so we eventually had to move to Thimphu.”

She said the move was not by choice but by necessity. Leaving behind their family home and farmland added financial and emotional pressure on her family. Many other families from Baeyul Kunzang have had similar experiences.
Another parent, Changa Lham, who currently rents a house in Darla, shared similar concerns. Her family returns to the village during school vacations to work on their fields, but balancing life in two places has not been easy.

“During my children’s vacation, we go straight to the village to work on our fields, but right now we are renting a house in Darla because my children are studying in Classes IV and V,” she said. “It is really hard to manage both farming in the village and living away for their education, even though we have bus service from Darla to Baeyul Kunzang.”

She believes that restoring the school to offer classes up to Class VI would help ease the challenges families are currently facing.
“It would help us a lot if Baeyul Kunzang Primary School had classes up to Class VI,” she said. “We could stay in our village, look after our land, and our children could go to school without needing to move away.”

At the center of the school’s operation is Karma Sherab Dorji, the lone teacher, who manages a multi-grade classroom with six students across four levels. His task is far from easy.
“I am the only teacher in this school, and it becomes very difficult to manage all the students from Pre-Primary to Class III in a single classroom,” said Karma Sherab Dorji. “Although I received multi-grade teaching training in 2023, handling four different levels at once still affects how well I can support each child.”

He explained that while he teaches older students, the younger ones need to be kept engaged with written assignments. However, this method has its limitations.

“When one teacher has to teach six students from Pre-Primary to Class III, it is not possible to give quality education to each child,” he said. “If I spend one hour teaching a subject across all classes, even fifteen minutes per group is not enough. The quality of learning is really compromised.”

The future of Baeyul Kunzang Primary School remains uncertain, but the concerns raised by parents, teachers, and local leaders reflect a broader challenge facing rural communities. For them, the school is not only a center of learning but also a foundation for their way of life, livelihoods, and sense of belonging. Without timely intervention to reinstate upper primary classes, the risk is not just the loss of a school, but the slow erosion of a village that has depended on it for generations.