Removal of ‘Cut-off’ point for class X, instituting Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as an autonomous agency, making teachers the highest-paid civil servants were the highlights of Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering’s address. He was speaking at the event marking the completion of government’s one year after assuming office yesterday.
Reflecting on the achievements and initiatives transpired so far, Dr Lotay Tshering said, on 7th November 2018, as Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) assumed office as the government; it was a journey in service of the nation. Since then, he said, they have come a long way.
Two months into its term, the government decided to do away with the cut-off point for class ten. The move was to provide the less privileged with equal opportunity to continue their education till class twelve.
Similarly, towards addressing the issue of youth unemployment, the government reformed the TVET sector as an autonomous body. This is expected to create employment and build a national workforce.
“We need more manpower in TVET than general graduates. If we have more of such, we can provide more jobs to our youths. We can easily do technical and 21st-century jobs with technical skills. Those youth who do not qualify for the higher secondary education opt for TVET and they land up without jobs after their training. We are planning to provide TVET courses after class twelve. If we devise proper curriculum and provide them with the opportunity to pursue a diploma, advanced diploma, degree and masters in TVET education, they will take more interest in TVET which will help solve unemployment issue,” the Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering said.
He added, in the face of growing attrition rate of teachers, the government has now made teaching the highest paid profession in civil service.
“To improve the quality of education, we need good teachers. And to get such teachers, we increased the salary of the teachers. It does not end here, we increased pay and allowances for colleges under RUB. And we gave little more stipend for teacher trainees in Paro and Samtse teacher training institutes”
The prime minister said since day one in office, the government has been working tirelessly in making the 1,000 Golden Days Plus a reality. Through this program, every Bhutanese child, until the age of two years, will receive an all-inclusive package of health and wellbeing services. It includes condition cash transfer for the under-privileged mothers to avail themselves of maternal and child services.
Considering the critical role of the local government in narrowing the gap, the government, from this fiscal year, introduced the annual block grant at the gewog level. The local government now has complete autonomy to prioritise and approve development activities.
Redefining the tourism policy of “high value, low volume”, Dr Lotay Tshering said the government redefined the tourism council membership, created the Tourism the Tourism Development Board, drafted Tourism Policy and conducted the first-ever National Tourism Conference.
Besides the address, a magazine titled “The Executive” underlining the achievements and experiences of the government in its first year was also released.
Pema Seldon Tshering
