Nations, institutions and researchers worldwide are increasingly demanding their governments set out a systemic change to humanise the present order of the world. In Bhutan, introducing a Gross National Happiness (GNH) philosophy in the 1970s and applying GNH indicators in the early 2000s was a deliberate attempt to embed Bhutanese values into…

Bhutan is a country known for happiness. In the 1970s, the Fourth Druk Gyalpo [Dragon King] of Bhutan established the development philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH). However, using 'happiness' as a measurement of social and economic development does not mean that all Bhutanese are 'happy' themselves. Schools -- including higher education…

This booklet compiles 10 good practices of the Happy Schools activities from different countries in Asia-Pacific. As part of the Happy Schools Campaigns organised in 2019 and 2020 to celebrate the International Day of Happiness under the theme: "Share Happiness, Share Your Happy School Activities" for 2019 and "Happiness for all,…

This interpretivist study employed a qualitative multiple-embedded case study to examine the infusion of Gross National Happiness (GNH) values in teaching Mathematics. The study aimed to gain insights into Mathematics teachers' perceptions, understandings and practices of GNH values in Bhutanese classrooms. The study involved 10 teachers teaching…

Gross National Happiness (GNH) is a central policy, symbolic of Bhutan, which gave rise to Educating for GNH (EGNH). In Bhutan, the school Performance Management System is the sole instrument used by the Ministry of Education to evaluate the performance of schools. To test the utility of the Performance Management System in fulfilling the intended…

Youth and young adults are responsible for 69% of completed suicides in Bhutan. As a developing nation committed to Gross National Happiness (GNH) as a measure of national success, Bhutan has recently recognized the growing prevalence of suicide and is taking steps toward responding to suicide and prevention. One approach to suicide prevention is…

The schooling experience is perhaps the most influential of endeavours in terms of shaping the course of student lives. Schools that can promote happiness, referred to in this report as 'happy schools', are key to ensuring better well-being, health, and achievement as well as success in future life and work. Education systems must value the unique…

The article demonstrates an action research approach for constructing Transformative Sustainability Pedagogy (TSP) to empower teachers for a sustainable future. The starting point for the TSP was a Transformative Education for Gross National Happiness (GNH) teacher action research project in Bhutan (2010-2013) -- a collaboration between the…

Environmental science (ES) was introduced in Bhutan as an optional school subject for classes IX-XII to equip young people with the knowledge, values, and skills to protect the environment and promote sustainable and equitable use of natural resources in the pursuit of gross national happiness. Teachers are believed to play a crucial role in the…

Bhutan aspires to balance sustainable socioeconomic development with environmental conservation to achieve Gross National Happiness (GNH). There are apparent alignments between GNH and the principles of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), but we recognize the role of the Bhutanese socio-cultural context for critically examining any…

This paper reports a study of students' and teachers' perceptions of their classroom learning environment in Bhutanese eighth-grade mathematics classes. Research suggests that positive perceptions of the learning environment can have a positive influence on students' learning outcomes, interest and engagement in classroom activities. The study was…

Education is considered to be one of the key tools for addressing sustainable environmental conservation while balancing sustainable socio-economic development to achieve Gross National Happiness in Bhutan. The Environmental Science subject was introduced to prepare students with knowledge, values, and skills to address sustainability. This study…

One of the fundamental debates in education is on what schools should teach, and in the balance between academic content and the role of the school to teach non-cognitive skills and traits. This article explores how teachers think about, and experience, their roles and responsibilities beyond merely deliverers of curricular academic content. We…

This study explored pre-service secondary science teachers' perceptions of classroom emotional climate in the context of the Bhutanese macro-social policy of Gross National Happiness. Drawing upon sociological perspectives of human emotions and using Interaction Ritual Theory this study investigated how pre-service science teachers may be…

In December 2009, the author traveled to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for a week-long workshop, "Educating for Gross National Happiness." At the invitation of the royal government, international participants joined with local teachers, principals, and students to discover ways that Bhutanese schools could better support the country's…