Last month, Serguei Beloussov, Acronis Founder and Executive Officer, traveled to Bhutan and visited several remote regions of the country as a representative of the Acronis Foundation. Local schools, though not in desperate condition, nonetheless require major infrastructure improvements.
During the trip, Serguei met with progressive Bhutanese educators who he invited to visit Singapore, the city where Acronis was started in 2003. The visit, organized and paid for by Acronis, was designed to show them an inside look at the Singaporean educational system.
Prof. Kinzang Lhendup, Asst. Professor at the Paro College of Education, Royal University of Bhutan, Mr. Kuenga Tenzin, Principal of the Phobjikha Central School, and Mr. Dorji Wangchuk, Vice-Principal of the Phobjikha Central School, attended a variety of public and private Singapore schools, from pre-schools to higher education institutions. The guests also had a tour of the Acronis office in Suntec Tower and gave a lecture on the Gross National Happiness philosophy and how it is implemented in Bhutan.
They also had a meeting with former Acronis interns, who shared their experience and thoughts on how education and companies are interconnected and influence each other. “This meeting was so nice and fruitful. Acronis’ former interns shared their vision that educational institutions consider real-life business cases and best practices of global leading companies to make learning more applicable and practice-oriented. I totally agree with them and think this is the kind of approach which all modern teachers should follow,” said Prof. Lhendup.
Serguei Beloussov confirmed that based on the results of this intercultural exchange, both sides started to consider ways of collaboration. “We are going to fund construction of several facilities for a Bhutanese school with more than 700 pupils between the ages of 6 and 17. We’ll also work out an action plan to implement a system of financial bonuses for the schoolchildren to make education available for a greater number of people in Bhutan.”
