December 8: We spent some years shying away from the responsibility of presenting Gross National Happiness (GNH) in acceptable terms and translating it sufficiently into practical actions. Speaking at the opening of the workshop on Educating for GNH, the Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley said this option does not exist anymore. The workshop will look at how to put GNH into practice and how to infuse our education system with the values of GNH.

Some 68 international educators and experts, and more than 95 national participants are taking part in the six day workshop.

Speaking at the opening last evening, the Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y.Thinley said greed, materialism and consumerist fallacy have turned us into mindless economic animals and are destroying the planet. To address this, we need a change of consciousness and lifestyle.

He said for the world and for all living beings, as much as for ourselves, we have no choice but to demonstrate that we are worthy of the scrutiny to which we are subjected, by practicing what we preach.

According to the education minister, the long term goal is to ensure that Bhutanese youth grow up to care deeply about nature, to think and see reality clearly, to act wisely, so that they can be a symbol of hope and replica of well-being, sanity and balanced development in a troubled world facing extraordinary environmental and social changes.