Pema Seldon
from Thimphu
The 26 employees of the erstwhile Royal Education Council (REC) and 16 employees of Centenary Institute of Education (CIE) in Yonphula, Trashigang, who have been waiting for a concrete decision from the cabinet for the past seven months on their status of employment, might have to wait for more.
The 42 employees were terminated with effect from 1 October last year following a decision made at the second Council meeting of REC held on 1 July 2015. The employees were terminated following the merger of REC with Department of Curriculum and Research Development (DCRD) under the education ministry.
Of the 42, four employees have already resigned. During 23rd Meet The Press yesterday, Lyonchen Tshering Tobgay said, “We have asked the employees not to resign from the job immediately; we said we are going to help them get a job,” he said.
According to Lyonchhen, the authorities have decided to establish CIE into a college. Meanwhile, REC and the education department have to stay together and decide on how the college will be constructed and in which areas it will specialize.
However, former employees are not very happy with the long wait.
“Who wants to wait that long? The government is not sure about their own decision,” said Sonam Choden, an ex-CIE employee. She is frustrated and feels cheated by the government. “We are regular employees and we went through a lot to get the placement, so it’s not fair,” she added.
The remaining employees are going to office regularly although they have no work and they are being paid.
While some have already put up their resignations and many have started looking for new jobs, others in the hope of being recruited again are still waiting for the government’s final decision.
An REC employee said that it is difficult to get a new job these days: “We completed our class XII a long time back and it’s tough to compete with the fresher graduates because they have higher scores. I still hope that the government will ensure jobs for us if we are relieved,” she said.
According to a CIE employee whose resignation is on hold, Thinley Jamstho, the government is making too many promises but not keeping them. “I have lost all hope. My only request to the government is they should let us go but with adequate compensation.”
The cabinet had earlier this year mentioned that REC employees could possibly be recruited in State Owned Enterprises (SOE) like Bhutan Lottery or Duty Free Shop.
The finance minister, Lyonpo Namgay Dorji said the cabinet had directed the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to look into the issue and that for recruitment for these SOEs, preference would be given to these employees. The finance minister said the government is working on corporatization of Duty Free Shop, and whenever the government decides to corporatize new agencies, it will look into the recruitment. “We are having some issues with Royal Civil Service Commission but we are looking into it,” said Lyonpo. Further, the finance ministry is working on the modality to give preference to these employees.
One of the employees of REC said the finance ministry’s proposal would result in a perfect mismatch of expertise and job skills. “For the faculties it is a mismatch, but for the supporting staff, it is good,” said the employee.
A researcher at CIE, Jangchuk Tenzin, said, “I don’t know how we are going to fit into those new areas of work. We were specialized in a different field and the job we could be given would be a totally new bet.”
The lecturers at CIE are all well trained and qualified professionals. Currently there are eight with one still undergoing the PhD program in Columbia University.
Although de-linked from MoE, the newly structured REC still functions under Royal Civil Service Commission rules and regulations. Running the CIE is outside the mandate of the newly structured organization.
The RCSC recommended that CIE staff be transferred to Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) as they could not be absorbed in the new REC as per Bhutan Civil Service Rules (BCSR) rules and regulations. All CIE staff are non-civil servants and most of them resigned from their earlier posts in the education ministry.
One of the employees of CIE under anonymity said though they are waiting for the final call from the cabinet but if he gets a better offer in the meanwhile he will leave immediately.
Of the 42 employees, 12 have masters’ degree, 18 are university graduates, four are class XII graduates and others include three caretakers, two sweepers, two drivers and one messenger.
The REC was established through a Royal Command in August 2007 to initiate and implement education reforms across the entire spectrum covering school, technical and tertiary education.