The government has proposed the colleges under the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) to increase their intake. The Prime Minister, during the Meet the Press session on Friday said the colleges have reduced their intake while a large number of students have completed high school this year.
The colleges under the RUB usually enrol around 2500 students every year. But they accepted only about 2300 students this year.
The RUB claims that the decline in college enrollment this year is due to the discontinuation of various programmes in a few colleges. In addition, class sizes were also reduced to focus on quality aspects of teaching and learning as well as co-curricular activities.
However, Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering says the government has requested the RUB colleges to boost their intake capacity without compromising quality or standards.
“This time the issue is different, even when students scored 70 per cent they didn’t qualify for colleges. Yes, there were issues like this in the past but not like how it is now. We talked with the RUB. They said they might be able to adjust five to 10 students in each RUB college.”
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister shared that the Jigme Namgyel Engineering College in Dewathang and the College of Science and Technology in Phuentshogling, which have the largest intake capacity, had no applicants this year. He said High school science graduates who are eligible for the courses are not interested.
More than 12500 students completed their high school studies this year. Usually, only about 11,000 would complete class 12 every year.
Pema Seldon Tshering
