Teachers’ perceptions of students with special education needs in Two Western Districts of Bhutan

The present study examined Bhutanese teachers’ general perceptions, challenges towards special educational needs (SEN) students, and professional development (PD) and training attended by teachers with their levels of stress. A total of 53 teachers of Two SEN Schools in western Bhutan participated in this study. The data were collected using the online survey. The findings of this study suggest that although, 55% of teachers felt that teaching students with or without disabilities together is a good thing, however, the lack of professional development and further training can thus be a contributing factor why teachers feel stress while teaching students with SEN in these two identified schools. The findings also indicated that teachers learnt skills in SEN mostly through personal initiatives such a doing further research and reading. Similarly, the results of the study showed that the female teachers were said to have experienced more stress compared to their male counterparts. Further, the study also revealed that some of the challenges identified by teachers while teaching students with SEN were the lack of teacher collaboration within the school, lack of resources, overcrowded classrooms and the lack of professional development and training. Alternatively, the results of predictive analysis tended to show a strong negative relationship between the PD and the teacher stress. Further, the correlation and the prediction analyses further revealed that an estimated of 52% variability of stress can be predicted by the PD/trainings attended by the teachers

The Impact of Family Type on Bhutanese Secondary Students’ Academic Performance

Family support has played an influential role in a child’s development, particularly in education and learning. However, little research is undertaken in developing countries related to student academic achievement and their family type. This current study aimed to study the differences and similarities in students\u27 academic achievement scores between broken and intact families. Family type in this study refers to either broken or intact. The broken family in this study has particular reference to children from divorced families only. This study used a quantitative approach to collect information about children’s family status, and a secondary source was used to collect the overall grade point average from respective schools. A total of 312 students participated in this study, and their age ranged from 11- 19 years. The findings showed that the Bhutanese Secondary students from broken families outperformed those living with both parents. There was a statistically significant mean difference of |28%| between the broken and intact families. The results of the Pearson correlation showed that there was no statistical relationship between academic achievement, gender, and age. However, a positive small-sized relationship was found between the family type and academic achievement |r=0.11, p=0.05|. Similarly, after adjusting for ‘age’ as a covariate, a one-way analysis of covariance showed no statistically significant difference in academic score. The stream and the effect size was |η2 = 0.001

Teachers’ Perceptions of Students With Special Educational Needs in Two Western Districts of Bhutan

The present study examined Bhutanese teachers’ general perceptions, challenges towards special educational needs (SEN) students, professional development (PD), and teachers' training with their levels of stress. A total of 53 teachers of two SEN schools in western Bhutan participated in this study. The data were collected using an online survey. This study's findings suggest that although 55% of teachers felt that teaching students with or without disabilities together is a good thing, one of the challenges certainly was the inadequate numbers of trained and specialised teachers. The findings also indicated that teachers learned SEN skills mainly through personal initiatives such a doing further research and reading.Similarly, the study results showed that the female teachers were said to have experienced more stress than their male counterparts. Further, the study also revealed that some of the challenges identified by teachers while teaching SEN students were the lack of teacher collaboration within the school, lack of resources, overcrowded classrooms and the lack of professional development and training. Alternatively, the correlation and the prediction analyses further revealed that an estimated 52% variability of stress could be predicted by the PD/training attended by the teachers

New distribution record of the Bhutan Takin Budorcas taxicolor whitei Hodgson, 1850 (Cetartiodactyla: Bovidae) in Bhutan

A camera trapping survey in eastern Bhutan in 2015 has yielded a picture of the Bhutan Takin in the uplands of Kurichu River watersheds in east of Wangchuck Centennial National Park, and is the easternmost documented  distribution of the species in Bhutan. The photograph was taken on 30th June 2015 at 9:24 AM in the site located on 27056’03.8’’E &amp; 91004’53.7”N at 3,898m. The habitat is dominated by Fir and Rhododendron.</p

A new critical habitat for conservation of the White-bellied Heron Ardea insignis Hume, 1878 (Aves: Ardeidae) from Bhutan

The White-bellied Heron Ardea insignis is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to its extremely small and rapidly dwindling population. Bhutan is home to the highest number of White-bellied Heron and the species is distributed patchily across 11 different sites in central and south-west Bhutan. In this note, we present the first evidence of the species in eastern Bhutan, on the Drangmechhu River in Trashi Yangtse district. The finding extends the distribution of the species in Bhutan and recognizes one more potentially critical habitat for immediate conservation attention. As elsewhere, the new site is found to be primarily threatened by hydropower development. The need for conservation initiatives for the species is immediate and highly recommended

Community perception of ecosystem services from commercially managed forests in Bhutan

Given the direct dependence rural communities have on forests, understanding ecosystem services can empower communities and align stakeholders to define priorities and objectives for the sustainable management of forest resources. In this qualitative study on the forest ecosystem services in Bhutan, we assessed community awareness and perceptions of local forest ecosystem services, identified their top priorities, and evaluated how they have changed over time. The study focused on state reserve forest areas designated for commercial timber production, formally known as forest management units (FMU). We held focus group discussions separately with women and men associated with five FMUs in the central belt of the country. Participants identified 45 ecosystem services, with soil productivity, freshwater, timber, fresh air, construction stone, carbon sequestration, spiritual value, pollination, and local weather regulation comprising the most highly valued services critical to local livelihood and well-being. Participants felt that forest ecosystem services have been generally declining over the past decade in the FMUs and identified a need for forest restoration activities to improve their delivery. We recommend that state forest entities conduct an awareness campaign to empower communities with the conceptual framework and globally recognized concepts to advocate for their needs related to forests. We also recommend that biophysical and economic studies be conducted in these areas to seek evidence for causal linkages between natural resource use and the status of ecosystem services. This study contributes to a growing literature on ecosystem services in Bhutan and provides a basis for future studies to understand how management activities can impact the delivery of critical services

Conservation threats to the endangered golden langur (Trachypithecus geei, Khajuria 1956) in Bhutan

Threat assessment is critical to species conservation and management planning, because prior identification and assessment of key threats to conservation planning can assist in developing appropriate interventions or strategies. Comprehensive threat assessments are currently lacking for many threatened primates. In this paper, we classify and rank all direct threats to the endangered golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) in Bhutan in order to provide a practical guide to future conservation of the species. Information on threats was based on interviews with local people, discussion with field forestry staff, and social media interaction. We classified threats to golden langur habitats and populations, and ranked them using Miradi™, an analytical software for the adaptive management of conservation projects. We identified five habitat threats: (1) hydropower development, (2) road development, (3) housing development, (4) resource extraction, and (5) agricultural expansion. We also identified seven population threats: (1) electrocution, (2) road kill, (3) road injury, (4) dog kill, (5) retaliatory killing, (6) illegal pet keeping, and (7) hybridization with capped langurs. We rated the overall threat to golden langurs in Bhutan as 'medium'. Hydropower, road, and housing development constituted 'high' impact, while agricultural expansion, resource extraction, electrocution, and road kill had 'medium' impact; the remaining threats had 'low' impact. To immediately mitigate threats to golden langurs, we recommend: (a) installing speed limit signage and speed breakers with strict enforcement of speed limits; (b) installing insulated electric cables and fencing around power transformers; and (c) reducing and restraining domestic dog populations