With the government doing away with scholarships to students in private schools, the Kuendrup Higher Secondary School in Gelephu has done away with classes eleven and twelve. The school will now offer diploma in vocational courses like masonry, electrician, plumbing, and carpentry. The school has been renamed Kuendrup Institute of Innovation and Technology.
Despite temporarily doing away with classes eleven and twelve, the school will continue to offer primary classes till the third standard.
The school proprietor, Lobzang Tshering says the vocational skills offered by the new institute will make students ready for the job market.
“We had to shift. We were not getting students due to government policies. The national diploma courses we offer will be as same as Jigme Namgyel Engineering College. But, here we will focus on 80 per cent practical and 20 per cent theory. Students will get good job opportunities after doing the two-year national diploma course. We will start from March.”
The Institute will take in those who have completed class twelve and Vocational Training Institute graduates for the courses.
The proprietor added that “in theory classes, students will learn how to estimate budgets, billings, rate analysis, filling up tenders, and construction site management works.”
Established in 2003, the school was upgraded to a high school in 2008.
At the moment, the school has 40 teaching and support staff. Despite closing higher classes, the school has retained IT, Dzongkha and mathematics teachers.
Karma Wangdi, Gelephu
Edited by Sherub Dorji
