A talk by Dasho Kinga Tshering, Founder of Institute of Happiness

Dasho Kinga Tshering, an engineer, banker, former parliamentarian, researcher and entrepreneur, and founder of the Institute of Happiness gave a talk to the students, faculty and staff of Samtse College of Education on 5^th November 2019. The talk was titled “Ser Sang Ja Ley Yoenten Na Chi Ga: From Gyalyong Tshogkhang to Harvard University, From the Parliament to Lifelong Learning” and focused mainly on his learning experiences and transition from being a parliamentarian to lifelong learning in Harvard University and becoming an entrepreneur.

The talk was scheduled in two separate sessions – one in the morning and the other in the evening. Dasho highlighted the importance of thinking out of the box and never to stop chasing for better opportunities and continuous learning. He cited some real-life examples of people who never gave up on their passion and told that the young generation should seize this opportunity early in life.

Dasho cautioned that while the recent raise in salary for teachers would have resulted in some excitement and momentary motivation, he reminded that this incentive also comes with greater expectations from the government. He asked the students to be more focused and passionate in what they do in life and stated that teachers’ passion and attitudes towards the teaching profession and commitment to becoming a lifelong learner are critical.

Dasho presented a brief overview of the Institute of Happiness, which has been founded to serve as a platform where researchers, academicians and students could come together to brainstorm and carry out research projects that are practical and culturally relevant to Bhutan’s philosophy of happiness. He emphasised that as future educationists, the students of Samtse College should take up research related to Happiness and contribute to a positive mindset in the future citizens of the country.

In talking about Gross National Happiness (GNH), Dasho stated that we should not confine our understanding of GNH only conceptually but make concerted efforts to live a GNH-inspired live on a daily basis. He stated that we have GNH in our DNA and the present generation of Bhutanese students have a unique opportunity to develop competencies to teach the world about GNH through practical experiences, which cannot be found in the google or any other sources.

The session ended with question answer session and presentation of souvenirs as a token of gratitude and appreciation to Dasho for taking the time to visit the College and talk to the faculty and students on a very topical issue.

Reported by:

Sangay Lhamo

Asstt. Research Officer