Except for the Dzongkha and B.Ed general category, women topped the Bhutan Civil Service Examination (BCSE) this year.

With a male each in the Dzongkha  and technical category, seven women were among the BCSE toppers. This is excluding the B.Ed category.

Female graduates from outside Bhutan took the top three positions in general category.

Pema Euden, from the University of Texas at El Paso, the United States with a score of 73.05 percent topped the general category.

From Amity University, India, Sonam Tshomo came second with 71.69 percent in the same category. Jigme Wangmo from Infrastructure University Kaula Lampur in Malaysia had a score of 69.26 percent.

Of the 1,947 candidates who appeared BCSE this year, 1,538 passed the exam by obtaining 50 percent and above.

This year, 747 graduates will join the civil service. Of the total vacancies, 254 slots are for B.Ed graduates, 205 for postgraduate diploma in education, and 208 for technical graduates including positions requiring Dzongkha background.

While postgraduate diploma in public administration will recruit 40, 30 will be recruited for postgraduate diploma in financial management.

The civil service examination division’s human resource officer, Jigme Norbu, said that technical and B.Ed. graduates would join the civil service from January 1. “PG candidates will undergo pre-service training which is usually one year course.”

Compared to last year, the performance in the general and technical have declined. Last year, in the general category, 95 percent of the graduates obtained 50 percent and above in the examination, which declined to 77 percent this year. Similarly, the pass percentage of 71 percent last year in the technical category decreased to 62 percent this year.

For Dzongkha category, the percentage of candidates with 50 percent and above remained the same at 100 percent.

Selection and placement along with drug test will be carried out from December 19 to 21 this year.

With 75.74 percent, Ugyen Wangmo from Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Science, India topped the technical category.

From the same university, Pem Zam scored 74.43 percent and came third in the category. Sangay Dendup with BA in Traditional Medicine from the National Institute of Traditional Medicine came second with 74.59 percent.

In the Dzongkha category, Tshering Tobgay with BA Honours in Language and Literature from College of Language and Cultural Studies (CLCS) topped the category with 75.14 percent. Sangay Om from Sherubtse College with BA Dzongkha and History came second with 73.05 percent.

Karma Zangmo, also from ILCS, came third with 72.42 percent.

Phurpa Lhamo