Bhutan Scouts Association

Scouting was introduced in Bhutan in 1970 but it was only in January 1996, His Majesty, the Fourth DrukGyalpo, while expressing concern on a number of issues on education, emphasized the need to adopt a systematic and Comprehensive Programme to address youth related issues. Emanating from this wisdom, and realizing the usefulness and potential of the Scout Programme for the all-round development of youth, the then the YGCD, under the Department of Education launched the School Based Scout Programme as one of the channels to promote as one of the channels to promote value education among the students. The programme achieved considerable progress both in terms of membership as well as the type of programmes conducted. 

In the same year, consequently, on 26th July 1999, Bhutan Scouts Association (BSA) became a full-fledged member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) during the 35th World Scout conference at Durban, South Africa.

The Scouting programme in Bhutan is based in Four Section; Nachung Scouts (Cubs), Nazhoen Scouts (Scouts), Rovers and Community Based Scouts and today it has more than 40,000 members.

World Organization of the Scout Movement

The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) is a non-governmental international organization which governs most national Scout Organizations, with 28 million members. WOSM was established in 1920 and has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Scouting is currently active in 216 countries and territories, with a global membership of over 31 million, male and female. Two thirds of the international membership are in developing countries. The World Organisation of Scout Movements (WOSM) is an international body that supports Scouts across the world.

The World Scout Bureau Central Office in in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia and has six regional offices namely; European Region, Arab Region, Africa Region, Asia-Pacific Region, Interamerican Region and Eurasian Region.

The founder of Scouting

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, (22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) son of The Reverend Baden Powell, a Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University and Church of England priest and his third wife, Henrietta Grace Smyt. He became a British Army officer, writer, author of Scouting for Boys which was an inspiration for the Scout Movement, founder and first Chief Scout of The Boy Scouts Association and founder of the Girl Guides.

After having been educated at Charterhouse School in Surrey, Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking. Several of his military books, written for military reconnaissance and scout training in his African years, were also read by boys. In 1907, he held a demonstration camp, the Brown sea Island Scout camp, which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting. Based on his earlier books, he wrote Scouting for Boys, published in 1908. In 1910 Baden-Powell retired from the army and formed The Boy Scouts Association.

The first Scout Rally was held at The Crystal Palace in 1909, at which appeared a number of girls dressed in Scout uniform, who told Baden-Powell that they were the "Girl Scouts", following which, in 1910, Baden-Powell and his sister Agnes Baden-Powell formed the Girl Guides from which the Girl Guides Movement grew. In 1912 he married Olave St Clair Soames. He gave guidance to the Scouting and Girl Guiding Movements until retiring in 1937. Baden-Powell lived his last years in Nyeri, Kenya, where he died and was buried in 1941.