Staff reporter
The Class X examinations are necessary, according to officials from the Bhutan Council for School Examinations and Assessments (BCSEA).
The Ministry of Education (MoE) provided three options to conduct the board examinations for Classes X and XII, which included promoting all Class X students directly based on their assessments, midterms, and trial examination marks.
In a presentation BCSEA officials made to a high-level committee, an official reasoned that the board examination for Class X is important because the Bhutan Certificate for Secondary Education (BCSE) is mandatory while students apply for scholarships to pursue education outside the country after completing Class XII.
“The BCSE is also required for the Royal Civil Service Examination and also any other job interviews,” the official said. “It is also required while advancing into tertiary education.”
It was also learnt that the BCSEA had already spent about Nu 8 million (M) in preparing for the BCSE examination.
The council has delivered the examination question papers to schools in the country. “Some schools might not have received it yet, as it got stuck on the way,” the official said.
There are 12,699 Class X students.
Meanwhile, out of the 150 middle secondary and higher secondary schools in the country, 101 schools are functioning in self-containment mode today.
An education official, who also made a similar presentation, said that out of the 26,801 Class X and XII students, 16,868 students are in schools functioning in self-containment mode. “There are 3,886 teachers in the schools.”
He said that about Nu 27.167M will have to be spent as stipend for students in containment mode in 12 dzongkhags as of now.