Granted, at this time most private schools in Bhutan are still struggling just to provide adequate facilities of their own. But it will not always be this way. Private schools wil steadily develop into full-fledged institutions with enviable facilities and reputations. At that point, the contribution of private schools will be much more than simply providing extra seats to the government’s overstretched educational system. And it can also be more than providing top quality options to our own students within our own borders.
Private schools can share their resources with the community, with other schools, with students, with parents for public benefit. In the United Kingdom the law allows for the private schools to achieve ‘charity status’ if they share their resources in this manner. Charity status accords tax breaks to the school thus ‘paying’ for the use of those resources. This is a more natural way for sharing than the standard approach of taxing and budgeting and building government facilities.
In Bhutan private schools are still seen as simply being ‘for profit’ with no role for contributing to the public. This is an old view. If this mindset can change among our bureaucrats and lawmakers, there may be room for more innovative ways of sharing resources.