To appear for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam, it was only the Royal Institute of Management, which used to facilitate the test for the Bhutanese people till date. And sometimes due to limited number of seats, people had to travel to India to do their exam. Now, a private firm, the Institute for Management Studies (IMS) will also facilitate the exam, easing the burden on those who would want to avail themselves of the test.
The IMS and the IDP education launched the IELTS exam at Kelhi Higher Secondary School and Yangchenphug Higher Secondary today. Some 200 candidates sat for the exam. The IDP education is an Australian based company and is the co-owner of IELTS along with the British Council and the Cambridge.
The Chief Executive Officer of the IMS, Tenzin Lekpell, said they have taken the initiative as number of Bhutanese sitting for the exam is on the rise every year. “We have seen Bhutanese traveling to Siliguri and even Kolkata. So we have managed to get in touch with the IDP and IDP has seen that IMS can be a centre for them, so that is how we have started.”
The move was welcomed by the Bhutanese people intending to sit for the IELTS exam. “Here in Thimphu, we have to pay around Nu. 9900 for the test. Whereas, when we go down to Siliguri and Kolkata, the first and foremost thing is transportation costs and the living costs. We have to book a hotel, have to eat and there are other much expenditures to incur. It will benefit us a lot,” said Yeshey Wangchuk, one of the candidates who sat for the exam today.
The official from the IDP education explained that the procedures and fees of the IELTS exam are same like that of British Council and Cambridge. He, however, said there are no set rules or timings to increase the fees of the exam. “There is no fixed parameters that we have to increase the fees every year or we have to increase up to six months. If you see last month the fee increased by Rs. 1000 and the basic reason was that the government levy service tax on the education sector as well. The fees were increased in proportion to the service tax being implemented,” said Vishal Gupta, Head of IELTS operations, IDP education.
The IELTs exam is designed to assess the language ability of the candidates who need to study or work in countries where English is used as the language of communications.
