The country is still facing a shortage of over 1,100 teachers across schools nationwide. The education minister revealed this on BBS yesterday. In a bid to address this, the ministry recently announced a temporary measure of hiring resigned teachers. For the long-term, the ministry and the RCSC are working towards establishing the National Teaching Service which will give the ministry greater flexibility in teacher recruitment.
During a live discussion yesterday on BBS, the minister pointed out that the shortage of teachers in schools is significantly higher than in other agencies. She said this is due to the greater demand for teachers in the country.
Yeezang De Thapa, Education and Skills Development Minister said “There is a shortage of 1,126 teachers. We are required to recruit contract teachers to address this gap. These contract teachers are hired based on the needs of individual schools. While each school may have a shortage of just one or two teachers, the large number of schools in the country results in a significant overall shortage.”
The shortage includes 252 teachers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics or STEM subjects.
“We recruit STEM teachers locally whenever possible. However, if there are no available candidates, we hire from neighbouring countries. We recruited twice last year, and this year’s recruitment is the third one. So far, we have hired around 55 STEM teachers. While there were 735 applicants from India, only 22 were recruited this year because we selected the best.’’
However, after an assessment, the ministry found out that in primary and extended classrooms, it was not the issue of shortage of teachers but rather an underutilisation of the teaching workforce. The minister said this issue will be reviewed.
The education and skills development minister said “We conducted an assessment with the Human Resource Division in the ministry. For example, there are 132 primary schools and extended classrooms with a total of 3,044 students and 443 teachers, resulting in a student-teacher ratio of 1:7. However, the standard ratio should be 1:24 for primary schools and 1:32 for middle secondary schools. This indicates that teachers are being underutilised.”
The minister added that recruiting resigned teachers is a temporary measure to address shortages in rural areas. Since these teachers are already trained and experienced, their recruitment is expected to smoothen the teaching-learning process.
“When we hire consolidated contract teachers, some of them lack training and experience, as many are fresh graduates. Feedback from students has indicated difficulties in understanding lessons taught by inexperienced teachers. Although we provide training, it is brief. In contrast, resigned teachers already have experience and can effectively teach students.”
In addition, the ministry plans to introduce the National Teaching Service soon, which will provide greater independence and autonomy to the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, enabling faster and more efficient teacher recruitment. Currently, the recruitment process is delayed due to requirements set by the Royal Civil Service Commission, hindering timely teacher appointments.
Sonam Yuden
Edited by Kipchu
