Bhutan · Thimphu · See the Bhutan profile · See the Thimphu profile
Evidence: Quasi-experimental Top 19% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice
A UNICEF-backed pilot of Finland's AI-powered Eduten maths platform in 32 Bhutanese schools found Grade 5 pupils gained 11.2pp in numeracy and 4.6pp in arithmetic fluency over a control group; Bhutan funded a full Grade 4 rollout, expanding to Grade 5 (2025) and Grade 6 (2026).
Eduten, a Finnish AI-powered adaptive mathematics platform used in over 70% of Finnish schools, was piloted with 952 Grade 5 students across 32 schools in Bhutan — six urban schools including Loselling Middle Secondary School and Etho Meto Primary in Thimphu, and 14 rural schools including sites in Pema Gatshel and Sarpang.
UNICEF Bhutan's evaluation set out to test whether the AI-adaptive platform could improve numeracy and arithmetic fluency compared with a control group over a 10-week pilot period with one weekly lesson.
Pupils used the platform for one weekly lesson over 10 weeks, with UNICEF Bhutan comparing participating students against a control group. Following the pilot, Bhutan's Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) fully funded a nationwide rollout to all Grade 4 students under a three-year agreement, with phased expansion to Grade 5 in 2025 and Grade 6 in 2026, including monastic schools attended by young monks.
Pupils using Eduten outperformed the control group by 11.2 percentage points in overall numeracy and 4.6 percentage points in arithmetic fluency. 92% of students reported enjoying maths more, and teachers reported reduced workload thanks to automated learning analytics, with one educator describing a 'vast difference in learning outcome' compared with traditional instruction.
The published control-group comparison does not disclose randomisation procedures or formal significance testing, so the results should be read as a promising quasi-experimental signal rather than a definitive causal effect. A parallel Eduten pilot is under way in neighbouring Laos as part of the same UNICEF-supported regional programme.
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| Place | When | Adopter | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laos | — | UNICEF-supported regional programme (parallel Eduten pilot) | Parallel Eduten AI-adaptive maths pilot under way across 5 provinces, 12 districts and 35 primary schools in Laos, as part of the same UNICEF-supported regional programme as the Bhutan rollout. |
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