The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) has developed a youth-crime history database which records and shares information with core stakeholders.
The RBP endorsed specific guidelines for implementation of the Youth Delinquent Monitoring System (YDMS) and information sharing with the stakeholders.
The core stakeholders include the RBP, education ministry, Royal University of Bhutan (RUB), labor ministry and other related institutions.
Deputy Chief of Police Col. Thinlay Drukla said the existing database and guidelines doesn’t have a separate provision specifically for youth crimes but the new system is targeted to “specifically monitor the youth”.
The guidelines’ preamble states: “The main purpose of the criteria for admission of students shall be strictly based on criminal records and that the measures be put in place to ensure that the students with criminal track records in one college or school or institution do not secure admission in another college or school or institution.”
Another provision of the policy framework directly declares that the policy statement for all educational institutes and centers of learning shall be, “no students with criminal record shall be given admissions”.
The RBP will now have a web-based criminal database which can be accessed by all stakeholders.
The Principals, Directors and Heads of institutions including private colleges and schools referred as “focal officers” are mandated to check for adverse records using either the citizenship identity card (CID) number or the student code number.
The Deputy Chief of Police said, “Earlier our records didn’t reflect the attributing factors as to why and how the crime was committed, now every time a crime is committed, it has to be studied and entered in the database”.
The police Officers in-charge (OCs) are required to contact the parents directly when a student commits crime at any point of time including during vacations.
One coordinating officer (CO) each from all the core stakeholders has been appointed to exchange information. The four COs as per the copy of the guidelines are RBP’s Deputy Chief of Police Col. Thinlay Drukla, Director General of Education Tshewang Tandin, RUB’s University Registrar Gajel Lhundup and VETD Chief of MoLHR Karma.
Various sensitization and awareness programs headed by the Chief of Police were conducted following a meeting of stakeholders on 30 April 2012.
The policy framework is expected to come into force upon the completion of awareness programs and launch of the web-based database system tentatively scheduled for 1 August 2012.
I feel the move to bar students with criminal record from any admission is on extreme side. Education is our constitutional right and RGoB’s mandate. There are other ways to deal with the students with criminal record and rather going full throttle with them.
They are young and incompetent to know what is right and what is wrong. There will also be problem leading to such problem.
The Government or the stake holders will have to study the root cause of youth crime rather than taking extreme actions which will not only jeopardize their life but also further inflame their frustration.
What justice do the law do by taking extreme action and make them illiterate for life by not getting admission anywhere in Bhutan (If they come from poor family)? That will further complicate the issue for them and for the country. It will suffocate their life.
I would suggest the stakeholder to study the means of combating the youth crime rather going tough in the end result.
It is better to tame than to kill.
Just my thought la
Criminal means somebody should be behind bar, but almost student are minors, putting all minor criminals behind bar is not a solution and denying admission also not the solution too. They are human and human can change and give opportunity by not just expelling. So authority have to research alternative strategy to tackle with criminal student.
For Instance: Mr. Dawa (BBS debate organizer) was very naughty while he was in school and was suspended for two weeks by the school authority but now has became GEM of the nation. Need to rethink
I have heard about this earlier but did not believe it but now that it seems to be true, i am surprised and even shocked. While i feel we need to have good laws and practices, but barring students from getting education is a mess that we are all entering into. What will happen to them, their future , their parents and also the future of this country. As a stakeholder and a concerned citizen of this country, before it is too late, we need to discuss the issues properly, find a better means and then decide on the course of action. But i am not talking about those students who have committed serious crime like murder or those serious ones…. petty thefts, fights etc should not be so serious to bar the students from finishing their education…afterall they are the future citizen of this country and will have implication to this country socially and economically. please revisit this policy.
There goes another one again that stink of tobacco legislation. We should not forget that we were kid once and a very naughty and impossible too. Where is our compassion and empathy to our youth. Do we want to criminilaze our youth and comdemn them early in life. What happened to youth counsellers, shouldn’t they be the one to be fired or locked up for not living up to thier job. Will someone raise his hand if he/she was never naughty , disruptive, fighter etc. which is all part of growing up. I seriuosly hope some common sense will prevail afterall.
Students committing crimes should be subject to legal sanctions, but permanently blocking them from going to school is worse than life imprisonment. Even hardcore criminals in a civilized world go to rehab & detention centres where they can study & reform; they are not condemned for eternity. They should get a chance after they have served their sentence.
Going through this news I don’t know how far it can be right but don’t think enforcing this law will be of any use. They might bring youth to be more violent and uncontrollable if they go on applying this draconian law. If we want to have a peaceful country and happy people we have to study the law carefully and vividly before this nonsense thing such as Pedestrian Day comes into light.
Police and those other entities would be bringing in more criminal if they enforce it. I would like to see them do more research before implementing this rules so that we can save our loved ones from misery for entire life.
The study should be done thoroughly not just say that it is in book and will be applicable. One day it can be your son, your sister, your daughter or son who will get involved in criminal and saying that they will be barred from studying would be disheartening la. So be wise.
THINK BEFORE U LEAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please go and check if this is going to work. I hope it won’t work. When in Rome act like a Rome. SO don’t copy and bring other’s rules and apply into our GNH society.
what we need is a few well equipped Reform Centres like in the western world managed by dedicated and trained staff.
totally agree. schools are burdened enough.
If a student is convicted by a court of law for any criminal activity, than they have no business being in school, so it is a move in the direction, the only thing more important is that this law should be implemented across the board with absolutely no exceptions. Many of our good laws become poor ones because of the exceptions that are made while applying them to the rich and powerful in our very small society. A simple example is the closure time of our discotheques, while all are required to be closed by a certain time, some are allowed to remain open till the wee hours of the morning, apparently because one of our princes/princesses are partying there. While I have nothing against our royalty partying, it just makes some people complain when people flout laws.
In regard to parents who feel that this law is too draconian, I say tough luck and in many ways, the parents themselves have to take some blame for how their children behave.
typical DPT spokesman attitude – attack our Royalty to lift up the DPT. well done. DPT will be on the streets from 2013.
Of course the PDP idiot you are will look at it this way, if you think it is ok for royalty to flout laws, than so be it, but it is exactly this attitude like yours that make it impossible for the cops to carry out their duties effectively. In the end who suffers, everyone.
As for students being barred from attending schools if convicted of a crime, I am sure such a decision has not been arrived at lightly and could only have been taken after exhausting all other avenues to deal with youth crime in our schools. Even as we speak, two students of Motithang High School have been apprehended for beating up the care taker of the school, if you are fine with such stories happening every other day, than good luck to you.
The fact that such a law exists will not only make students realize that they can no longer take the law into their own hands, they would also know that such random acts of juvenile crime could affect their whole futures too. For parents with problem children, it would mean that they need to be more responsible for the action of their children.
So apkado, don’t only make noise here, try to contribute to the discussions some
times, though I am not sure that is possbile with the kiddish remarks you seem to be making all over the place.
your defense of the DPT always seems to be to attack the Royalty. That’s why the DPT will in the streets in 2013.
What a pathetic response, but I am certainly not surprised, DPT will be in the streets in 2013, why don’t you stop worrying about the DPT and try and help and pat the bills for your own party before they get disqualified, we certainly don’t want that to happen.
Where have you attacked the Royal Family? Why don’t you read your own posts! Every other post I would say! And always in defense of your dearly beloved PM and DPT.
well you’re the one who turns everything argument into a pro-DPT rant. Part of which is always to attack the Royalty. We can see where you’re coming from.
Your the biggest idiot going around, please explain where I have attacked the Royal family, why hide under such excuses when it is clear that you have nothing substantial to contribute to this discussion.
And who was the one who started making this a DPT vs PDP issue, read carefully and you will find out that it is you. But being such a nut case, you still not agree.
Where have you attacked the Royal Family? Why don’t you read your own posts! Every other post I would say! And always in defense of your dearly beloved PM and DPT.
Wai Education Ministry, Please do proper Home work before you launch the best education centenary awards or the medals.
The Act One was during our time there was corporal punishment which worked very well and there was no question of student becoming undisciplined or antisocial element..
Then came Act Two, the Education Ministry banned the corporal punishment and the behavior of students blew out of proportion.
In Act Three the ministry is going to imprison the students for life. This draconian act could be viewed very seriously by the Human and Child Rights Groups. At present the Image of the Nation across the Board is wonderful which is known as GNH NATION.
The external grants and aids could be jeopardized because of this act of the Ministry.
Please revisit on the policies and plans with regard to implementation of the education centenary awards 2012.
that’s a very good commentary. From the fire to the frying pan and then worse. They should simply reinstate corporal punishment as a valid means of cultivating discipline with proper instructions and regulations and things would go back to normal with no need to worry about criminals coming out of schools.
Admissions will be barred for students with criminal records…………….i feel really disturbed.
* Where will these children go?
* What will they do?
* Who will correct them and turn them into productive citizens?
* Isn’t it the moral responsibility of the State to look after and DO whatever possible to make our youth productive citizens since “youth are our future?”
* Why does a state have to act like an angry parent and go only for the short cuts….or is it a reaction to some invincible pressures?…………..come on, let us give our children some space to grow and not turn them into a class of criminals in their own country!
Also I think it is a Wake Up Call for the Education Ministry to do something with the entire system.
As a concerned citizen, I am really worried how such policies are being initiated to be put in place………..and humbly request the concerned authorities to explore other measures to counter with the growing youth problem especially students.
The core stakeholders include the RBP, education ministry, Royal University of Bhutan (RUB), labor ministry and other related institutions.
I foresee this is going be another mess with future citizen, so we want names of accountable person from organization and not organization who are involved in formulation law not the organization. This is mainly to avoid “throwing balls” if anything goes wrongs in near future
barring these expelled students who have committed crimes of a real criminal nature may be barred from joining the regular schools but it does not mean that they need to be neglected. We can always make a special school for them where the management has more training and skills in dealing with problem kids. it can be a boarding school so that they are under control 24 hours. It can even be located in Gasa, in that school ‘beyond the glaciers’! Just joking, but it could serve as both a punishment as well as a supervised relocation.
I think then that you concerns would be covered, as would the concerns of other parents who don’t want their children rubbing elbows with drug abusers and stabbers.
I am totally against labeling students and restricting their right to education…
If you go strictly with it then the rich can afford and send their child outside for education and the sufferer will be ultimately poor ones.
And on top the consideration of crime will have a other side of coin with powerful ones children not being arrested as such to avoid getting into database.
So it shouldn’t be done with such punitive decision towards our youth…..where our land’s future lies.
We are not talking about the youth of our country as a whole, here the MOE is talking about students who beat up teachers etc and like Lyonpo Thakur has mentioned, such a scenario is going to happen only in extreme cases.
A student who beats up his teacher certainly has no place in a class room and as far as I am concerned is beyond redemption.
This is really what is needed in this country. Our youths are really becoming nasty.
Agreed.
Haha, so according to you, when I mentioned about discos not closing on time because a member of the royal family was there is attacking the royal family. Anyway, to someone with a pea brain like you, that would seem so. So better try and get your beloved PDP back on track before they get disqualified, instead of wasting your time here.
haha what? yes you always attack the royalty to defend the DPT. and I’ve got nothign to do with the PDP! get that out of your brain. The DPT has successfully created its very own hate group over the past 4 years that has nothing to do with any other party.
The leaders of this country are becoming increasingly autocratic and barbaric by establishing such systems. There is no established scientific proof in countries that restricting admission to stds with criminal records stop producing criminals from the schools and colleges. What is the % of current criminals due to students committing crimes? I am sure it is insignificant. On the contrary, this system might increase the % of criminals as the drop out rate will increase if std crime rate increases. The issue will have a multiplier effect at the society level as no. of citizens without transformative, creative, innovative minds will increase. This will lead to a poor, deprived, society like we are now. At a future time, this will become an existential issue to the country as we will have more crooks than smart intelligent, forward looking citizens making decisions at every forms.
The best approach to deal this issue is revising the education carriculum that fit with current creative and innovative minds of children.
We are lazy in forcing us to think for alternatives, and as a result, we make decisions based on opinions, egos, lack of logic, lack of data and information, lack of reliable analysis. You, me and we are all in shambles due to such poor, weak decisions. The mirror image of our current thinking capabilities and strengths is the status of our country compared to other developed and developing nations.
Please do not make decisions that have negative results. As a citizen, I want to request you to return a fair value to citizens for paying taxes to pay your monthly salary and allowances.
Dear policy makers,
You can use what ever methods possible to bring the kids into discipline, be it corporsl punishment or prison…….. but plesse donot deprive him from his right to education. These policies will create more half educated youth and more criminals in future.
Just my ooinion
Haha, you have PDP written all over your face, so why pretend, please at least be decent enough to admit it.