The Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) decided to defer this year’s preliminary examination. With the adoption of physical distancing measures and closure of colleges, the commission said they are yet to decide on dates. They said they will set dates only after the approval from the government.
Every year, over 3,000 graduates in and outside Bhutan appear preliminary examination on the first week of August. E-registration starts from mid-June and lasts till mid-July. But unlike past years, the RCSC did not announce the registration and the date of examinations this year.
Tashi Pem, the Director of RCSC says, even if the students graduate from colleges, it would be difficult for the commission to conduct the exam because of the COVID-19 measures the government has adopted. “When we conduct exams especially during PE, we gather more than like 3000 plus people excluding examiners and people who are assisting in conducting the exams, another 700 or 800 of them which is around 4000 people. Just now for us, yes, declaration of the results of colleges is also important but at the same time, our concern is also to maintain the social distance. I don’t know how we can conduct the exams minding the pandemic situation,” she said.
She added that the civil service exam is important since a lot of government’s initiative and developmental activities depend on reliable human resources (HR). And a good way to source HR is to conduct exams regularly and get the best and brightest from every cohort. For now, the commission waits to see if there is a sufficient number of students appearing exams and approval from the government.
“Usually what happens is we conduct the exams in August and we declare the results only by December first week. Then we start with our selection process and then we appoint these new recruits by the first of January. So maybe perhaps in view of many uncertain things in front of us, we may conduct two exams or a single exam. We really have to go by what really unfold. We can look at July as another recruitment window,” she added.
The commission cleared that no matter when they announce the dates for the exam, they will give graduates equal time that is usually given for preparation.
Samten Dolkar
