1,800 class X-pass students to enroll in private schools of their choice

The ministry of education (MoE) will support 1,800 class X-pass students through government scholarships to study in private schools and a total of 9,894 students will be absorbed in the government schools.

A total of 12,925 candidates from 130 schools, of which 124 were government and 6 were private schools registered and 12,813 candidates appeared for the class 10 examination, of which 12,374 passed the examination, 439 failed and 112 were absent.

An official from the Private School Division said the students with a pass certificate awarded can apply for the private school scholarships, but the ministry is mindful about the students who are financially not stable and are enrolled in the boarding schools.

The admission was kept open and the ministry is not distributing any students to the private schools unlike in the past where the ministry and the private schools had discussed to divide students equally among the private schools. The choice of schools is left with the parents and the children.

The education ministry is providing training to the teachers on online teaching learning. An official said parents have raised concerns over online teaching when it comes to private schools. He said parents are not willing to pay for the online teaching. Parents feel that online teaching is not as effective as face to face teaching learning.

He said the ministry and private school association will discuss this issue too. However, looking at the pass percentage of the class X where most of the classes were done online the result is good compared to last year.

The ministry is spending more than 200 mn in one academic year.

The general secretary of private school association, Tshering Dorji said for the students who are opting for private schools, their first preference is Ugyen Academy since the school is popular. Students prefer schools with all the streams. So students have chosen schools with those kinds of options and few students might have chosen the faculty members that the schools have.

He said most of the students have applied for boarding schools as most of them come from faraway places and especially in Thimphu, as it is going to be a problem for students who do not have any relatives.

In the most recent meeting with the private schools, the schools have decided that the choice will be left to the students and the parents to opt for schools.

If 1800 students are divided among the private schools then the schools will be left with no more than 100 students and for these many students, the schools still have to manage all the expenses and it will be the same whether the school has just about 20 students or 100.

“I don’t know how many schools will survive thereafter,” said Tshering Dorji.

In the earlier article, the education minister Jai Bir Rai said those parents and students who are willing to go to private schools depending on the quality of teaching or learning are allowed to go as usual. The government is targeting only the students who are not able to avail the services due to economic difficulties.

Meanwhile, all the students who have passed and not enrolled in any private schools reported to the respective admission centers on Saturday for placement and admission in class XI. The placement exercise will be done at dzongkhag or Thromde level.

All the students admitted in class XI in government school shall report to the respective schools on April 28, 2021 for boarders and April 29 for the day-scholars.