The Samtse College of Education will not send half of its students home for the winter break. Only the other half, who would be going for teaching practice in the coming semester are being relieved. The college campus was turned into a strict self-contained area since last Friday.
The eight-day long quarantine will end in two days. 375 students, including third-year and postgraduate students, who will go for field practice, and students who have completed their master’s degree are expected to leave after an RT-PCR test on Friday.
For those staying back, although the college management said some students did want to go for winter vacation, most agreed to the idea of staying behind.
“Given the limited duration of the winter break, and given the fact that these group of students have to come back to college in the coming semester, the management thought that it would be wise to retain them and engage them in meaningful activities,” said Karma Gayphel, the Dean of Student Affairs.
The college will retain over 300 students on the campus. For now, they are not entitled to any stipend for this winter vacation although the college is providing meals. The student dean said the college has written to the Royal University of Bhutan to provide a stipend. The students will be kept engaged in academic, personal development, and sports activities.
“The activities are more of a proposal from students themselves. We asked different classes to brainstorm some of the activities they like to engage themselves when they are required to stay back in the college so that the vacation is meaningful and fruitful. So, we collected several lists of activities from different classes,” said Karma Gayphel.
Other activities include coaching for the civil service examination, research studies, arts and crafts, mindfulness training and sports competitions.
Sherub Dorji, Samtse
