HISTORY OF LMSS
In 1970, a group of India House ladies, used the rooms of the Government Guest House, at Lungtenzampa to organize a nursery classes for some of their children. They also invited Bhutanese children to play sessions. The ladies did this on a voluntary basis, whenever they were free.
In 1972, His Majesty’s Representative in the Ministry of Development HRH Ashi Dechen Wangmo Wangchuck, decided that there was a need for the Government to run a Nursery School, in Thimphu, and Her Royal Highness asked Mrs. Carolyn Tshering to set it up. Mrs. Carolyn Tshering was transferred from Thimphu Public School, (now called Yanchenphug Higher Secondary School), where she had been teaching from the time she arrived in Bhutan in 1966.
The Nursery School was opened in March 1972, using the same building – The old Government Guest House at Lungtenzampa. The school was called Thimphu Nursery School. The school started with 40, three-year olds, in two classes. Mrs. Carolyn Tshering took one class and Mrs. K.K. Tshering took the other. The school had one watchman and one maid/assistant.
The Public Work Department made slides, monkey bars, parallel bars, swings, a sand pit and a cycle circuit for the school.
The Education Department provided a mug of orange juice (tinned Druk Orange Juice) and two biscuits for each child, every morning. Many of the ex-students still recall the pleasure of the daily orange juice.
At some point in the 70’s the school was upgraded to a Primary School. When the top class reached V they entered Yangchenphu under the headship of John Tyson. Later the school became Junior High School and was called Lungtenzampa Junior High School. This meant our children can stay with us until class VIII.
A multipurpose hall and a 16 room building was opened by Her Royal Highness Ashi Dechen Wangmo in 1981. The rooms included a library and a science laboratory.
During the early years, as the student numbers were so few, besides the normal annual concerts and sports days, we were able to organize many extra curricular activities-picnics, dramas, swimming classes, karate, tennis and hockey classes at Changlimithang, trekking and camping at Phajoding, visits to Taktshang, tango and Chari Monasteries, and a bus ride into the nearly completed Chukha water tunnel.
In the year 1984 Mrs. Carolyn Tshering resigned and the school was run by Mr. Borrow and there after the school was headed by a number of heads as follows:
1970 – 1984 - Mrs. Carolyn Tshering
1985 – 1988 - Mr. Burrow
1988 – 1990 - Mrs. Pem Sherab
1991 – 1994 - Mr. Chencho Dorji
1995 – 1997 - Mrs. Chuki Tobgyel Wangchuk
1997 – 1998 - Mr. Sherub Gyeltshen
1998 – 2004 - Mrs. Chuki Tobgyel Wangchuk
2005 - … - Mrs. Kinley Pem
The school was upgraded to High School in the year 2001 and it was welcomed by the staff, students and parents, as it was perceived as recognition of the teachers’ commitment and capability to shoulder a larger responsibility. It inspired the teachers to work harder to prove themselves worthy of the trust placed in them by the Department of education.
Following the up gradation of the school to Middle Secondary School from the beginning of 2002 academic year, the first batch of 117 students from Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary School appeared for the BCSE exams in December 2002. When the results were announced for the BCSE 2003 it came as a great “Moral Booster” and provided a tremendous sense of accomplishment amongst the teachers. Our students had achieved a 100% pass result, with 67% of them having obtained necessary marks to qualify for admission in Yangchenphug Higher Secondary School.
From its early beginning Lungtenzampa School has always inspired to higher level of excellence, both in academics and extra-curricular pursuits, and the outstanding results obtained by our 1st batch of BCSE.
The strength of the school has grown from 40 students with two teachers and two non-teaching staff to 1128 students with 52 teachers and 14 non-teaching staff till date.