Press Release

On the invitation of Her Excellency Ms. Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Finland, Hon’ble Sherig Lyonpo Norbu Wangchuk led a delegation comprising of officials from Ministry of Education and the Royal Bhutanese Embassy, Brussels on an official visit to the Finland from 23 to 26 October 2017.

During the visit, Sherig Lyonpo Norbu Wangchuk met with H.E. Ms. Sanni-Grahn Laasonen, Minister of Education and Culture and discussed possible collaboration and cooperation between the education system of Finland and Bhutan. The Education delegation also met Ms Elina Kalkku, Under-Secretary of State (Development Cooperation and Development Policy), Ministry for Foreign Affairs, who hosted a lunch for the delegation and with Mr. Tuomo Puulmala, MP, the Chairman of the Committee on Education and Culture.

Finland is considered and envied by educationist globally for its dominant position as one of the top ranked nations for high quality education and also for being one of the top ranking nations in the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA). The PISA is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in member and non-member nations of 15-year-old school pupils’ scholastic performance on mathematics, science, and reading. It was first performed in 2000 and then repeated every three years. Its aim is to provide comparable data with a view to enabling countries to improve their education policies and outcomes. It measures problem solving and cognition in daily life.

Hon’ble Sherig Lyonpo and the delegation are in Finland to gain first-hand experience of education delivery in the Finnish school system (pre-schooling to University level), gain expert insights into pedagogy, education leadership, teacher training and school development as well as gain exposure in models and technology in the education and the learning system.

While in Helsinki, Hon’ble Sherig Lyonpo and the delegation visited the Finnish National Agency for Education, University of Helsinki / Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki Center for Continuing Education HYplus, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Viikki Teacher Training school and Pihkapuisto Comprehensive School (Primary).

Bhutan and the Republic of Finland established formal diplomatic relations on 1^st May 1986.