The Changzhu Primary School of Norgaygang in Samtse is faced with a teacher shortage. A teacher requirement exercise by the education ministry for this year saw a need of two general teachers for the school.
So the parents’ group decided to step in to address the teacher shortage problem in their community school. The parents took matters into their own hands after a volunteer teacher left the school this midterm. They decided to temporarily hire a teacher from within the community and together, pay him a monthly salary of Nu 6,000.
“We have a minimum of 16 and a maximum of 21 students in each class. If we see the teacher-student ratio, we have enough teachers but if we go subject wise, we have seven sections leaving us short of teachers,” Chencho Dorji, the School Principal, said.
“We put up this issue as an agenda at our parent-teacher meeting. The parents agreed to pay for a teacher until the year ends. So, we had someone from the village who had completed class 12 and the parents decided to hire him. So, this is our temporary solution to the teacher shortage problem,” the principal added.
This initiative has reduced the teacher workload from six to four subjects per teacher, easing the situation to some extent. The remote Changzhu Primary School was established in 2010.
Elsewhere in Samtse, the situation is worse. Many gewogs brought the teacher shortage situation to the Dzongkhag Tshogdu, last month. For 2019, Samtse is short of 61 teachers.
“First of all, Samtse has the highest number in terms of population. That is why excluding Thimphu Thromde, student enrollment is highest in Samtse among the rest of the districts and thromdes. And similarly, Samtse has the highest number of teacher shortage in the country,” Karma Sonam Chophel, the Dzongkhag Education Officer, said.
Samtse needs a total of 740 teachers to cater to its 33 schools. Shortage of Dzongkha teachers is the highest at 36 followed by general teachers at 14. Eight more English teachers are required while information and technology, geography, and environmental studies subjects are short of four teachers each. Five more economics teacher, two physics teacher, three-agriculture teacher, and one chemistry teacher are also required in Samtse.
The Dzongkhag Tshogdu decided to inform the education ministry for immediate action. Over the years, teacher shortage trend is on the decline in Samtse but the problem, it seems, is here to stay for some more years.
Sherub Dorji
