The Opposition says the party is surprised by the government’s persistent inaction to address the problems facing Bhutanese students studying and living in Japan under the “Learn and Earn” programme.
In the news release issued by the party yesterday, opposition demand “the government to do what it must address the problem as soon as possible.”
The opposition says the government has failed to act on its two recent commitments, “to defer the loan repayment of the students and send a team of officials, led by the Labour Minister, to Japan to study, verify and look into ways to help our children there.”
“We know that our children who are in Japan have been facing a lot of problems. One youth has died, some are suffering from tuberculosis, one is in a coma, around 100 youths have returned and more than 100 are expected to return by the end of February and March because of, immigration and work-related problems,” Dorji Wangdi, the spokesperson of Opposition Party, said.
The opposition says the government should consider “the matter urgent and serious that merits immediate action.”
“The government cannot be indifferent and negligent of its duty to a national problem affecting hundreds of our youth,” states the news release.
Meanwhile, the government says the loan deferment for Bhutanese students in Japan will be implemented soon.
The labour minister shared this in response to the Opposition Party’s news release on the issue.
“We are in final stage of discussion with financial institutions like the BDBL, RICBL and the RMA. We hope to be able to start implementing the decision by in the next few days. Once we are done with that, then we will plan and visit Japan,” Labour Minister Ugyen Dorji said.
“If the Opposition feels that the government is indifferent, negligent and is not doing the job, I would urge the Opposition to take a more understanding approach towards dealing this issue.”
The labour minister also added the Opposition also know the difficulty of governance, the complexities involved, in implementing such decisions, having been the first elected government.
