ABOUT THE SCHOOL:

Established in 1961, Jakar Higher Secondary School is one of the oldest schools in Bhutan. It is located on a beautiful undulating slope opposite to Jakar Dzong one kilometer away by road. And it is two kilometers away from Chamkhar town at a north-west direction. The school occupies an area of 35 acres with Thram number 749. The school takes its name from the nearby Jakar Dzong.

Legend has it that Jakar Dzong (which literally translates to ‘White Bird Fortress’) was founded by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal’s great-grandfather Ngagi Wangchuk, who was an eminent Drukpa lama in the 16th century. After he had founded Trongsa dzong, Ngagi Wangchuk came to Bumthang where with the help of donors he started to build a monastery. One day he saw a white bird flying over the construction site towards the ridge where the dzong now stands, and there the bird nested. Ngagi Wangchuk took this to be a good omen and decided to change the location of the monastery. In 1549 the construction was completed and he named it ‘the monastery of the white bird’.

In 1961 the school was founded as a Government Secondary School. In 1983 it was upgraded to a Junior High School. In 1995 the Education Department further upgraded this school into a High School. In 2002 it was upgraded to a Higher Secondary School offering Arts and Commerce streams. Science was introduced in 2004. In 2014, the school was among the 19 schools to be granted the autonomous status. As of today the school has classes ranging from IX to XII.