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The article investigates inclusive education as Bhutan’s educational-policy response after shifting from elite monastic learning to secular “Education for All.” It argues that equity-based policy offers an alternative to economic human-capital prescriptions for small states by addressing access, cost, and quality within an inclusive society.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/inclusive-education-in-bhutan-a-small-state-with-alternative-priorities/599606/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/inclusive-education-in-bhutan-a-small-state-with-alternative-priorities/599606.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"jayni","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How does the article connect Bhutan’s “small state” label to its education policy evolution?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It argues that Bhutan’s educational-policy choices engage with and challenge how the World Bank characterizes small states as fragile and vulnerable, especially regarding education framed through human capital development.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What is the UNESCO definition of inclusive education used in the article?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"UNESCO (1994) defines inclusive schools as accommodating all children regardless of physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic, or other conditions, including disabled and gifted children and children from disadvantaged groups.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why is inclusive education discussed as a policy solution in Bhutan?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The article treats inclusive education as an approach aiming to address policy problems of access, cost, and quality, while highlighting alternative priorities embedded in Bhutanese education policy.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},599606,1792210141,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":41},3985747859343,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Inclusive Education in Bhutan:  \nA Small State with Alternative Priorities  \nMatthew J. Schuelka  \nRoyal Thimphu College  \nBhutan is a ‘small state’ according to the World Bank, and therefore categorized as fragile and vulnerable to local and global challenges. However, since the 1960s, when the country first engaged in ‘modernization’ development and global politics, Bhutan has been anything but fragile and helpless. The Royal Government’s focus on sustainable development, cultural heritage, and Gross National Happiness as a template for all social policies has empowered Bhutan to become a leader in the alternative development of small states. This article explores Bhutanese development in one specific area: inclusive education. As Bhutan has shifted its educational policy from elite monasticism to secular ‘Education for All’, issues of educating a heterogenous student population led to the development of inclusive education policies. This article examines how equity-based educational policies provide an alternative to economic-based policy prescriptions of the World Bank for small states.  \nIntroduction  \nNestled amongst the towering peaksofthe Himalayas, the country of Bhutan navigates itself in the twenty-first century in a cautious and calculated manner. In many ways, the difficult topography of Bhutan has kept it isolated from global movements both positive and negative. Bhutan was never colonized by Europe, engaging only with its immediate neighbors of Nepal, Sikkim, India, Tibet, and later Britain. Today, Bhutan has become a country in the global network and tasked with re-negotiating its identity and place in both regional and international imaginations. A specific recent development in Bhutan has been its education system, having only begun in earnest since the 1960s (Namgyel, 2011). As secular, government-initiated schooling came to prominence and eclipsed elite Buddhist monastic education since the 1960s, issues and dilemmas were raised in Bhutan – amongst other things – as to how a mass education system can benefit an inclusive society. In this paper, I argue that the manner in which Bhutanese educational policies addresses this concern indicates a complex engagement with the limitations and possibilities of being a“small state” according the World Bank (2012) in that the World Bank frames education in small states in terms of human capital development. I also argue that Bhutanese educational policy and goals defies the characterization of small states as fragile and vulnerable (Mayo, 2010), and ultimately presents an alternative to economically-driven development policies for small states (World Bank & Commonwealth Secretariat, 2000) .  \nEducation has been expressed as a human right through United Nations agenda-setting such asthe Jomtien‘Education for All’Conference (UN Inter-Agency Commission, 1990), the Dakar World Education Forum (UNESCO, 2000), and the Millennium Development Goals (UN, 2000) . While reactions and effectiveness of conceptualizing education as a right for every child has been mixed (Lewin, 2005; World Bank, 2006), most nations have been engaged in building their educational capacity. The reasons for engaging in educational development range from economic externality and human capital arguments (Becker, 1994; Heyneman, 2000), to arguments of education to promote democratic civic engagement and social justice (Gutmann, 1987; Nussbaum, 2011) . Regardless of how education is currently framed, discursively it is viewed as a vital element in nation-state development. Education has been argued as one of the key ingredients to national  \n© 2012 Current Issues in Comparative Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Current Issues in Comparative Education 15(1): 145-156.  \nSchuelka  \ngrowth, from the United States (Friedman & Mandelbaum, 2011) to the smallest of states (Bacchus, 2008; World Bank, 2012) .  \nIf education is tobe assumed as a human right and a catalyst for nati","cbCairSBLajyv59C","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairSBLajyv59C","pdf",232113,12,"English","# Introduction\n## Inclusive education as a human-right and policy approach\n## Small-state characterization and World Bank frames\n## Bhutanese education-policy shift and inclusive education development","[{\"question\":\"How does the article connect Bhutan’s “small state” label to its education policy evolution?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that Bhutan’s educational-policy choices engage with and challenge how the World Bank characterizes small states as fragile and vulnerable, especially regarding education framed through human capital development.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the UNESCO definition of inclusive education used in the article?\",\"answer\":\"UNESCO (1994) defines inclusive schools as accommodating all children regardless of physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic, or other conditions, including disabled and gifted children and children from disadvantaged groups.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is inclusive education discussed as a policy solution in Bhutan?\",\"answer\":\"The article treats inclusive education as an approach aiming to address policy problems of access, cost, and quality, while highlighting alternative priorities embedded in Bhutanese education policy.\"}]","Inclusive Education in Bhutan - A Small State with Alternative Priorities | PDF",1792089099]