Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay has directed the education ministry and the royal civil service commission to undertake an overall review on the issue of B.Ed graduates.
A news release states that the Prime Minister has directed the education ministry and the RCSC to re-assess how many teachers can be employed on contract in the central schools.
The labour ministry was also directed to get in contact with relevant agencies for recruitment of Bhutanese in Thailand and abroad. Today there are 107 Bhutanese teaching in Thailand.
According to the press release the prime minister had also spoken to the Australian delegation during the vibrant Gujarat summit about sending Bhutanese to Australia.
The Business Opportunity and Information Centre was also directed to pursue a plan of action to develop entrepreneurial skills in young Bhutanese. A joint proposal by all the stakeholders is expected to be out this weekend.
Opposition’s take
Meanwhile, members of the opposition today, during their meeting with the media, said it was because of the change in government policy that the surplus of teachers had occurred.
They said they had promised jobs to the graduates as all intakes in the past were carefully planned as per the existing and future needs, and as per the education policy of the government then.
The Opposition also said there was no anomaly or miscalculation in the needs or deployment of teachers, let aside misleading.
“Since 1968 when the first teacher training institute was established, the government has been able to provide jobs to all the teacher graduates,” said the Panbang MP, Dorji Wangdi.
The problem of surplus of teachers, he added, was caused by the policy change of the current government, so the present government should take full responsibility.
The issue
Majority of the B.Ed graduates from Paro College of Education and Samtse College of Education, earlier this month, were disappointed with the limited slots announced by the RCSC.
The RCSC, during its 19th commission meeting held on December 30, 2014, approved 182 vacancies. More than 400 had passed the B.Ed Graduates Examination 2014.