The admission to public school will take place from February 13 

Yangchen C Rinzin 

All class X students who registered online with the education ministry to study in private schools can seek admission from today in private schools of their choice.

Admission will be open until January 29.

Of the 12,614 students who appeared in the BCSE 2019 examination, 11,810 students have passed the exam while 804 failed and 144 were absent.

All passed students from the 117 public schools and eight private schools will be eligible for admission in both government and private schools without the merit ranking.

The ministry had notified students to register with the ministry for admission into private schools before the result was declared on January 18. The Google document for registration was to collect information of BCSE-X 2019 students who were interested to study class XI in private schools through a government scholarship.

About 8,000 students registered to study in the 21 private higher secondary schools.

However, the government will absorb about 9,472 students in public higher secondary schools including Taktse Rigzhung,   while about 2,338 students would be supported through government scholarship and would be placed in private schools.

Department of School and Education’s director general Karma Tshering said that many students opted to register with private schools because most of them did not understand the instructions properly and registered in confusion.

Karma Tshering said many students have already approached the education ministry to withdraw their names.

“It was learnt that many had registered after the viral message in the social media told students should register compulsorily,” he said. “Then there was another rumour on the cutoff point as 62 percent, which confused the students further. They registered thinking they might not get the opportunity to study in government schools.”

Although, 8,000 students have registered for private schools, the director general said the ministry will provide scholarship to a maximum of 2,700 students in private schools as per the class XI admission into private schools’ notification earlier.

“The number may vary depending on the number of dropout and failures. Almost 400 students dropped out last year,” Karma Tshering said. “The private schools had earlier agreed to the number and also to distribute equally among the 21 schools.”

The ministry also revised the government scholarship fee to Nu 40,000 for day scholars and Nu 70,000 for boarders. The revised Nu 70,000 for boarders will be limited to needy students identified by the respective schools.

The Director General said that once the private school admission completes only then the admission in public schools would begin from February 13. Admission into Taktse Rigzhung will begin on February 3.

He added the merit listing for both the private and public schools are same and the class size should not exceed 36 students.

Meanwhile, many students are still confused over the admission and expressed that they are still not sure with what percent they would be eligible to study in public school. Those who registered to study in private schools have obtained higher marks and want to join public schools.

“It will depend on the admission process if the students registered are willing to apply in the private school, as many had registered in confusion,” Karma Tshering said. “It’s not mandatory to study in private schools they’ve registered with and they’ve the option to opt for government schools.”

Declaring the result, Bhutan Council for School Examinations and Assessment (BSCEA) director Jamyang Choeden said the overall pass percentage was 93.63 percent, a decrease of 2.93 percent in 2018. The pass percentage for English is 100 percent.

Scoring 93 percent, Namita Giri from Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary School topped the BCSE 2019 and with the tie, at 92.80 percent, Hari Prasad Acharya from Damphu Central School and Deki Lhamo from Gongzim Ugyen Dorji Central School stood second. While scoring 92.60 percent, Nima Wangdi Waiba from Dagapela Middle Secondary School was third.

The detail of the class XI admission procedures for the public schools will be announced on January 31.

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