Education: Despite complaints from Bachelor of Education (BEd) graduates of not being given teaching jobs, 13 slots for contract teacher this year was  unfilled.

While 358 BEd graduates of 2015 remained unemployed after only 217 were employed as regular teachers, 13 of the 297 vacancies that Ministry of Education (MoE) announced for contract teacher went vacant.

Seven of the 290 vacancies for BEd contract teachers in schools were not filled after the placement yesterday. Only one BEd graduate applied for seven vacancies for contract teacher in monastic institutions.  Six went unfilled.

Earlier, MoE announced vacancy for 297 BEd graduates who had secured 50 and above in Bhutan Civil Service Examination (BCSE) on a two-year contract. In BCSE, only five of the total 575 trainees secured below 50.

It was however found that only 284 of the graduates had applied for contract teacher vacancy although 358 BEd graduates of 2015 were left out during the BCSE selection process.

It is not known if the remaining 74 BEd graduates are employed elsewhere. Last year, 35 trainees were neither recruited on contract nor as regular teachers.

Only 382 of 417 BEd graduates were recruited as regular and contract teachers.

But all the 284 BEd graduates who signed confirmation papers on March 21 were employed though the ministry was earlier skeptical of recruiting every applicant. The ministry was of the view that not all 284 graduates would be employed because of availability of vacancy in various subjects and subject speciailisation.

“We have recruited all of the 284 BEd graduates who signed the papers earlier,” MoE deputy chief human resource officer, Tshesum Dawa, said.

MoE human resource officer, Karma Tenzin, said 187 Primary BEd and 43 Dzongkha BEd graduates were employed.

“While there were 147 secondary BEd graduates, only 54 slots were available for Secondary, therefore, rest had to settle for Primary BEd,” Karma Tenzin said.

One of the female BEd graduate was recruited for Walakha Anim Thorim Shedra. No contract teacher could be recruited for remaining monastic institutions such as Tango Thorim Shedra, Richenling Thorim Shedra and Dechenphodrang Zherim Lobdra.

Meanwhile, Tshesum Dawa said the recruitment of BEd graduates on contract basis is good news for the dzongkhags affected by shortage of teachers.

“The principals from a number of schools where there were teacher shortage are calling us saying the recruitment would make schools comfortable now,” Tshesum Dawa said.

The placement of the contract teachers has also been prioritised based on the degree of teacher shortage in different dzongkhags. For instance, Samtse, which had acute shortage of teacher, received the highest number of 53 teachers.

Trashigang and Mongar were also given 35 and 30 teachers each.

The contract teachers have to report to respective dzongkhags on March 31. They will have to report to schools on April 1.

Meanwhile, the contract of the BEd graduates who were recruited last year expires by the end of this year. It is not known whether their contract will be renewed.

“If need be, we might extend the contract based on their performance,” Tshesum Dawa said.

Tempa Wangdi