Medium of Instruction in the Multilingual Society of Bhutan:Equality and Identity as Criteria for Selecting Medium of Instruction

Abstract

This study clarifies changes in the perception of the medium of instruction in Bhutan. Bhutan is a multilingual society with 19 languages in use. English was selected as the medium of instruction when school education was introduced in the 1960s. This study divided the changes in education in Bhutan into three periods and focuses on how the goal of education, that is, the concept of “equality in education”, has changed. In the first period, “equality of access to education” was the goal of education policy, with the belief that education leads to equal success. The second period focused on the formation of national identity. Currently in the third period, diversification of education according to ability is set as the new goal. This study investigated how teachers and students perceive the medium of instruction. The result showed that teachers listed “equality” as the criteria for selecting English, emphasizing that English as a language would lead to equal success in the future. While students stressed the importance of educating all citizens in Dzongkha based on the criteria of “identity”. This study clarified that the “desirable medium of instruction” imaged by these two generations reflects the education policy and the social stance of language experienced by the two generations.