Dissatisfied with the interview results, a group of self-funded Postgraduate Diploma in Dzongkha Education (PGDE) graduates is claiming that selection interview for this year’s National Contract Teacher (NCT) recruitment was not conducted in a fair and just manner. They want the education ministry to review the interview process and outcome.
The representatives of the graduates requesting anonymity said they wrote to the education ministry several times after the result announcement earlier this month.
The graduates completed PGDE from the Paro College of Education. All of them participated in the National Contract Teacher recruitment with the understanding that they would receive priority over the general graduates. As per the recruitment announcement, the candidates with B.Ed., PGDE and teaching experience will be given addition weighting as appropriate.
But to their dismay, they weren’t selected in the 124 slots. From the 33 of the self-funded PGDE candidates, only five got selected.
“We were told that the PGDE graduates and those with teaching experience would be given a priority. And accordingly, we were shortlisted amongst the top 30. But when the final results were declared, it wasn’t according to what the ministry had announced in its notification. From the 30-top shortlisted, nearly 95 per cent with PGDE did not get selected. We would like to know why we were not selected,” said a PGDE candidate.
“As per the education secretary, the selection process was according to the RCSC standard whereas as per the ministry’s chief human resource officer, the selection was done only as per the viva voce. They contradict each other and we would like to know why these contradictions?” said the other candidate.
“When the result was announced, it was only based on the viva voce. We are disheartened as they said we would be prioritized,” added the other candidate.
“We feel that the PGDE training that we underwent is a huge waste with the final interview results. This is because as per the education secretary, since we underwent the PGDE training on our own expenses, we have to go to private schools. Why aren’t we allowed to participate in the government schools?” said one of the PGDE candidates.
Meanwhile, according to Dhendup Tshering, the ministry’s chief human resource officer, all the recruitment processes were carried out following the Bhutan Civil Service Rules 2018.
“The selection was based on their performance scores obtained in the interview. The candidates who possess B.Ed., PGDE and teaching experience were given preference for short-listing. Moreover, the ministry hasn’t been conducting written test to recruit contract teachers,” he said.
“If this category of candidates were not given such consideration during short-listing, there is a possibility that they would not even get shortlisted should they also be merit ranked based on the scores from class XII (30%) and Bachelor’s/Master’s degree (70%),” he added.
He added after the short-listing, all the shortlisted candidates were given the same level playing field and the ministry never meant to select PGDE candidates directly without going through the selection process.
With the selection result already declared and selected candidates called for placement, the human resource division said the ministry cannot do anything further.
Sonam Pem
