Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering said the government would regularise the service of contract employees across all sectors and not just the education ministry.

However, they will not be regular civil servants.

At the meet the press session yesterday, Lyonchhen said there are several other ways to regularising employees besides making them part of the civil service.

A different mechanism will be worked on, such as long-term contract provision where the employee will be entitled to benefits like that of civil servants. If the employees perform well there will be provision of extending their long-term contract.

“We are trying to work on a mechanism whereby the RCSC’s objective of keeping civil service small and compact is also respected,” he said.

RCSC he said follows its own set of rules. The minimum qualification required by RCSC is diploma and bachelors degree. Without appearing the civil service examination there is no way for an individual can enter the civil service. Regularising contract employees, he said, should not be understood as making them civil servants.

“The government is working on a scheme where a person will enjoy his working tenure,” he said. He pointed out that contract is advantageous for both individuals and the system. While the employer has advantage of hiring and firing, the employees can earn well should he/she perform well.

Whereas for RCSC, one of the greatest drawbacks of civil service, lyonchhen said, is that once an individual enters the civil service, irrespective of their performance they are there to stay until he/she turns 58-year-old.

The issue of regularising contract employees first came up at one of the question hour sessions of the National Assembly (NA). A motion on retaining post of gaydrung (gewog clerk) was also moved, where the NA endorsed to retain them.

During the discussion, members of parliament suggested that the government made service of contract employees as para-regular. This would not make them civil servants but allow them to enjoy equal benefits as that of civil servants.

Nirmala Pokhrel