When COVID-19 hit Bhutan and disrupted education for children across the country, the Ministry of Education took immediate action.
In late March 2020, the UNICEF office in Bhutan received a GPE grant of US$70,000 to support the Ministry of Education. A workshop on education in emergencies was held in late April to develop a COVID-19 Response Plan focusing on education continuity, especially for the unreached, with wide participation.
Working with education sector stakeholders, the government developed a response plan to provide learning during school closures and created guidelines for safe school re-opening.
From October 2020 to February 2022, a US$750,000 COVID-19 grant from GPE with Save the Children as grant agent supported the government and its partners to realize their plans while strengthening the resilience of the education system during the pandemic.
Ensuring education continuity
To keep students learning during school closures, the Ministry of Education adapted the curriculum for education continuity in the emergency context, eventually establishing the New Normal Curriculum for basic education.
Around 7,600 teachers were trained on how to implement the curriculum and over 168,000 children accessed continued education through the New Normal Curriculum.