BES hold community consultation

Bhutanese Ethnic School of South Australia held its community consultation on Saturday seeking feedback and suggestions from community members on improving services and management of the school.

The community consultation was the first it held since becoming independently incorporated. Formerly aupiced under Bhutanese Australian Association of South Australia (BAASA) has registered as independent incorporation under ‘School of Bhutanese Nepali Language and Culture’ (SBNLC).

At the consultation, the management committee announced that they would now be charging $10 for every child enrolled to the school to meet increasing costs of the school management.

The management informed school curriculum has been approved by the state authority which has been used as basis to teach in classes. They said they are seeking more volunteers. 

Community members suggested improving teaching learning methods and not continuing with the current traditional teaching process. Members of the community said while teaching Nepali in school may be one way to keep alive our language, it is important parents push children at home to learn – read, write and speak – Nepali.

Community members also suggested other community dialects like Sanskrit, Magar, Gurung, Kirat etc are also taught to children.

There were questions raised if only language teaching would bar children from learning their parental history and connection with Bhutan. 

SBNLC was established in 2012 and run by volunteers.