The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Member of Parliament of Kengkhar-Weringla, Rinzin Jamtsho, asked the education minister to update the House on the number of teachers that are on maternity leave.
Lyonpo Norbu Wangchuk said that ever since the extension of maternity leave from three to six months, 193 teachers have received the extended maternity leave, and currently, there are about 85 teachers on maternity leave.
Lyonpo said that about eight teachers were recruited on contract basis as a replacement for the 85 teachers on maternity leave. Prior to recruitment of the contract teachers, RCSC and education ministry formed clear guidelines for recruiting substitute teachers within standard protocol and procedures to be adopted by schools and Dzongkhag Thromdes.
Lyonpo said that the dzongkhag is in charge of the recruitment of contract teachers, only after carrying out the need assessment for the substitute teachers as per the guidelines. He added that while assessing the needs of substitute teachers in place of those 85 teachers, the respective schools and dzongkhags made careful assessment, and found out that substitute teachers were not required in most of the schools.
According to Lyonpo Norbu Wangchuk, this is because in most of the schools, the teachers due for maternity leave had to expedite and take extra classes to complete their syllabus before taking the maternity leave.
“In some schools, there are contract teachers who takeover from the teachers going out for leave,” Lyonpo Norbu Wangchuk said.
Further, Lyonpo said that the reason for recruiting less number of substitute teachers is also because of some dedicated teachers in schools that are willing to teach on behalf of teachers going on maternity leave.
