Never too old to learn

Cheten, Dorji Wangchuk and his youngest brother (From left)

 

 

 

 

 

27 April, 2010 - Dorji Wangchuk blushed recalling his first day in school as a 15-year old. Now 22, the student from Gongdi under Silambi gewog, Mongar, is in class six at the Pangthang community primary school.
“I was as tall as my teacher,” said Dorji. “But my fingers couldn’t scribble the letters which other students did with ease,” recalled Dorji whose hands were hardened by ploughing and digging the fields.

But no one could beat him singing nursery rhymes. “I enjoyed them more than learning the lessons,” he said. It helped him forget the difficulties at home.

Instead of going to school Dorji stayed home looking after the cattle and his five younger siblings. Then seven years ago dungkhag authorities convinced his parents to send him to school.

Dorji’s father died last year and since then he has shouldered the responsibility to meet school expenses for himself and his brother, who goes to the same school. His elder brother and a sister work in Haa and Samtse.

“I worked on neighbours’ farms during weekends and holidays on wage. In the winter I sold oranges,” said Dorji. He needed Nu 4,000 a year as school expenses for himself and his brother.

Dorji’s friend Cheten, also from Silambi, carried oranges and walked for more than four days to Tsenkari in Nganglam and back to cover school expenses. He earned Nu 450 for every trip.

Cheten dreads visiting his past. His mother died while he was an infant and his father abandoned him soon after. Since then he lived with his elder sister.

The 18-year old from Medan, is studying in class five in Daksa community primary school. “I wondered how it’d be like, when I saw my friends going to school while I looked after cattle,” said Cheten.

He fancied their uniform, their books full of pictures and the songs they sang. “I wished one day I could go to school,” he said. His dreams materialised when the dungkhag authorities convinced his family to send him to school.

Both students exhibit exemplary discipline and are good in studies according to their teachers. They have served as school captains for years now. They also share the ambition of becoming doctors in future.

The two students have been selected to receive the annual kidu educational allowance.

By Tshering Palden