Sunday, August 26, 2012

Sherig Century—Extempore Competition



A Dzongkha extempore speech competition, dedicated to Sherig Century (hundred years of Bhutanese education), was organized at Nangkha Lecture Theatre (Paro College of Education) on 18th August, 2012 by the Literary Committee.
The first autumn literary activity begins to spark the glorious festivity, and to celebrate the transformation education has brought to our lives. Also, through this festivity, we pay homage to all those great personalities who have contributed immensely to the growth of education.    
Sherig, which means ‘education,’ being the theme, the topics for the speeches revolved around education and its system—the history, teachers, students, founders of education, modern education, quality and discipline. The two hours of successive impromptu by the participants was a reflection and consideration of education that embraces many Bhutanese lives.
25 participants from different classes partook in the competition, out of which 5 were women. The top five winners were awarded with certificates and cash prizes.
More than 150 student teachers, Director, faculty members and other enthusiasts took part in the event. 

Talk on Origin of Dzongkha Language


The talk on the origin of Dzongkha language in Bhutan was delivered by Professor George van Driem, the Director of the Linguistic Institute of Bern University Switzerland on August 11th, 2012 at Paro College of Education.
During the talk Dr. George pointed out that “Dzongkha language has its foundation from one of the two greatest language families of the world, the Trans-Himalayan Linguistic phylum or Tibetan-Burman language family”. He added that “Bhutanese language is at the heart of trans-Himalayan language”. The talk also covered the hidden significant, structural beauty, and sophisticated aspect of the Dzongkha language from the linguistic point of view. 
The Dzongkha is literally the language of Fortress where military and ecclesiastic strongly hold language spoken in the Dzong as the official language. It is spoken already in western Bhutan long before the Zhabdrung’s arrival in 1616. According to the Professor, there are nineteen languages in different locations of Bhutan which are all intricate, special and unique.  
The professor was accompanied by the Secretary of Dzongkha Development Commission, Dasho Sherab Gyeltshen. More than 150 student teachers including the Director and faculty members of Paro College of Education attended the talk.
The talk was organized by Mr. Rinchen Dorji, the Dean of Research and Industrial Linkage, Paro College of Education.