The Bhutanese Leading the way.
There are around 4,000 Bhutanese students studying in India with most of them studying in Indian Colleges found for them by Educational consultancies.
However, based on the growing number of complaints in the last few years many students going to these colleges get anything but quality education or even quality facilities.
Jigme who is a graduate from RVS College, Coimbatore Chennai says, “I went to my college through EAZ education consultancy. I was attracted to this college as it was advertised by the consultant but once I reached there I regretted a lot. Nothing was like what the consultant promised. But we paid all the fees by that time and I couldn’t do anything.”
He said the fee structure also differed among the students as the consultant had different strategies to get more students for that college.
However, EAZ is not the only one as there are a large number of other educational consultancies doing the same and are also growing in number. These consultancies usually catch the eye of gullible students and their parents through flashy advertisements making outrageous claims in the local media.
Tandin Dorji from Dr. S.N.S Rajalakshmi College of Arts and Science said, “My consultant just dropped me till the college and did the admission formalities after that I didn’t see him. The college was not like what he said it was. We feel cheated as the consultant fooled us”.
Yeshey Dorji, who had gone to India through Ugyen P Consultancy said, “The promised things should be fulfilled but they are not keeping their promises. There should be improvements made with the Education consultancy services in Bhutan. The service provided and promised are not same”.
Acknowledging the problem Kunga Wangdi who owns an educational consultancy Career info said, “The students will complain if the services and college infrastructure promised by the consultant are not as good as promised.”
Ministry of Education officials say that over the years there are an increasing number of complaints from the parents about the standard of education their children are receiving from colleges that are affiliated to the consultancy agencies in Bhutan.
Many students that The Bhutanese talked to complained that in the initial stages when they confirm the college with the consultants, they are promised that there won’t be any increment in fees but this is not the case as fees are increased anyhow.
Students many of whom are here on their summer break allege that educationconsultancies use unethical means to get them to choose colleges which are not what they are made out to be.
A former student who studied Computer Science in B.B Pradhan Management College in Kalimpong said, “We don’t even have to study much as during exams even the question papers have all optional ticking as in, the answer is already given among other choices.”
As a result students who barely even passed or failed in their subjects in schools here in Bhutan come back with incredibly high test scores of 80 to 90% plus.
However, again the majority of College graduates who cannot make it through RCSC are these students.
According to an official from the Ministry of Labor and Human Resources many of these students are not even accepted by private companies as they may have high marks but they are not even able to master the basics.
The result is a mass of semi-educated graduates with degrees but no employable skills.
An owner of a small IT firm said, “Many of these graduates come with high level qualifications but I can’t even get them to connect the computer to the printer.”
Several parents say that the government should monitor these consultancies and their methods in sending children to any institution outside the country.
A parent of a student on the condition of anonymity said, “I think the government should do something to improve their service because we pay a huge amount for their service. If such things continue I think our children will be spoilt by landing up in poor quality colleges.
The Education Ministry is trying to take a few steps to rein in the Educational Consultancies.
As per the Ministry of Education rules education consultancy agencies now have to register and acquire a license. They are also supposed to send students to only those colleges which are accredited by renowned universities or are registered under the University Grants Commission of India. This was found necessary by the Ministry of Education.
The planning officer of the scholarship division under the education ministry, Doley Tshering said, “There were several complaints but we tell them to send their children to those colleges with whom the ministry has signed an MoU. But normally the parents go with their children’s choice and land up choosing colleges below the standards set by the National Accreditation Counsel.”
Most of the colleges the consultancies in Thimphu are linked to are in Bangalore, Chennai, Jaipur and Pune. During the 2011 graduate orientation program, a graduate from Bangalore appraised the Education Minister of the poor quality college that he was led into by one of the consultancies.
Thereafter the education ministry had conducted a few meetings and conferences with the consultancies. The management teams of about ten consultancies showed up and signed an agreement. One of the terms agreed upon was, the consultancies should only be deal with colleges which are graded A&B by the National Accreditation Counsel.
According to the Jampelyang education consultancy there are reports of people running consultancy services without any proper permission from the Education ministry. These practices they say has affected the confidence that the parents have on the consultancies approved by the MoE.
The EAZ consultant declined to comment on the issue.
But at the end of the day what everyone looks for is the marks whether it is private,corporate or Govt.And usually those student who come out from such colleges have high score and for those students studied in good colleges usually score less marks and are not even shortlisted.
Now tell me where you want to study?A poor college where you get good scores and will be easily shortlisted for any job opening or a good college where you score low marks and even difficult to get shortlisted?Choice is yours…if not make the credit point “ZERO” for academic score for any jobs through out the country through RCSC.
This is the fact that consultants cheat students and parents by luring them into low graded colleges. I was one of the victim of EAZ consultancy. I have paid them the colleges fees as much as they asked, but upon reaching the college the consultancy have paid only 50% of the fees to the college and they never did pay the full amount. I did the inquiry to ask the consultancy to return the fees to me but it was in vain. They just cook up the long story, where they take out many middle man’s names. So i think the Govt. should set some criteria or policies to curb these complications or set compliant board for education, anti-money laundering agency, etc.
Let me also add my comment here. Rather than complaining alot about any of the consultancies, I more of find an urge to tell everyone that, eventually you, I and they, who are going to study in any of the colleges are responsible to be more careful with payments and colleges.
I don’t think EAZ lacks any formalities. Its just that they cannot concentrate on a single student. I have seen them working for everyone. If you don’t take your own steps and move forward seeing your own needs, neither EAZ nor the government will spoon-feed anyone.
These are my personal feelings and say.
Here, I say nothing to hurt any sentiment’s thoughts.
the consultants who cheat students have to be taken to court and also it is important that the MoE and other relevant agencies have to step in before more thousands are fooled into false promises.
In a scale of various graded colleges, one can choose the college as per the financial ability of the student. If you don’t find the college up to your mark, i think it is your choice based on what you can pay. If you pay less, you cannot expect better facilities. As far as i know, there’re lots of colleges where you can get better facilities depending up on how much you pay…
The responsibility of monitoring falls on the MoE. Let us not only blame the consultancies as they are service providers and they will want to maiximize the profits anyhow. MoE is talking about grade A & B colleges & recognised Univs. Good. Now also talk about proper implementation of these rules, fixing responsibility & accountability to consultancies, etc…so that they are fully accountable & liable for any mis-information, cheating or short-falling in their committments.
Mr.leley bahadur, of Phelki High school, i could imagine how he paid more than 4 millions for plot of land in babesa.
well thats not my complaint, he has wife who is not even class ten in EAZ consultancies office, i happen to visit twice for my cousin, she has no idea which stream leads where…..she neither have any clue anything on grades of university, nor subject differences. she acted as if she is univeristy dean to allot us seat on spot paying 10,000 cash as thier services charges…. does IT know thier income??? are they filling Tax correctly? many students later change thier mind and go with friend directly, they never returned that money given to them as service charges ,,,, They are looting cash……of innocent Bhutanese….
yes, these consultants must be punished. Look at Tshering Gyeltshen’s english writing. it’s pathetic and for sure must be because of the lousy college he was sent to. Poor fellow, he can’t even make one straight sentence in 20!
Dear Apkado,
I am not here to prove my english, I am trying to make points innocent parents are taken advantages without giving them proper informations, and whether that looted money is shown to Income tax.Please try reading between the lines….
By the way who is Leyley Bahadur? I feel somehow if we researched throughly before commenting on anybody would be more fruitful to everyone of us, so that each one of us will be careful in future. I know we have the habit of throwing the words before analyzing and later we can’t even take back. I feel what we talk and write should be true and precisely to the point so that problems and complaints are solved for better.
Hahah true true Mr.Tshering.And if you don;t know then she was the one who hit one student at chubachu last time with her new tucson and you know she acts so proud and showy?Needs to change her attitude.She has not realized that she is sustaining on those poor students’ looted money.Govt. must do something about it.These consultancies cannot cheat our poor students and become rich themselves.They should be feeling guilty.
If people already knew how these consultancy firms loot poor student’s parent’s hard earned money, why then they still go to these firms and ask help for admission? I heard this summer alone, these consultancy firms in Thimphu have facilitated in getting admissions to Indian colleges for over thousand Bhutanese students. Certainly, you have the right to question them about the quality of services that they offer, or if they at all have misinformed you about the college facilities in India or elsewhere, but honestly, i think you can’t question them of their existence or how much profit they make out of their business.
On the other hand, I have also seen what kinds of students go to such firms – all those who have just average or below-average grades in their plus two, and those who could not get admission into any colleges within the country and govt scholarships. But this is not the point, the point is that such firms look for colleges outside Bhutan that fit your grades, and this in turn facilitates you at least to pursue you higher education and earn a degree (if that is what just you wanted). I would say its still better to use our own consultancy firms (if you choose to go through a middleman) than to use indian brokers, where you have to pay not only their service charge but also have to give heft sum of “donations” to the college you are seeking admission in.
you guys whoever took time to comment on above specially on accidents and qualifications, i feel and i should comment that it should be never easy to bad comment on other without knowing the true story, it looks like you guys are directly jealous to the success of others but the outcome will come to one only, eventually the truth is fragile at the beginning but always wins at the end…. so you guys took bad times to negatively comment on upcoming young business enthusiasts. I say….. if you take care of yourself, rest will take care of themselves…
Well, money has become more and more important than the job assigned, the only possibility is let them realize and not send our brothers, sisters and children through them… but since all of them (education consultancies) are no good and each of them are equally comparable to same quality among themselves.. so no choice unless we do on our own and save some time so that we do not have time to place a complain later.
But I along with other 11 of us had the privileged to get tuition fees waiver for 4 years of our engineering arranged by EA-Z. What I am today is because of EA-Z also otherwise I would not have got the opportunity to study engineering in India. Thanks once again to EA-Z and hope there are many others like me who are silent now as Bhutanese are used to in this type only….. No hard feelings to anyone…
I was one of the victim of this EAZ….they lied to me 90% ..and it ruined my 2 year ..i had to change my college for that… I was doing my LAw in the college they promised but it was all lie..lots and lot of lie…and yes the lady in EAZ office who acts like he is a dean who allocates seats ..man i trusted their words so much…. It ok no problem…. i am sure her son or daughet will face the proble like we face…. creepers
Well, Leela D Sharma has been lucky earning smart money, he should resign from Kelki and focus on his business so that he can deliver better and authentic service to his clients. how much is he getting from Kelki as a principal, 40K, 50K or 80K (I must be kidding)? If he give fulltime focus in his business EAZ consultancy he gets approximately 120K a month. As I was in CE, I wasn’t allowed to enter his office but some CE madams were, it is good that he has a charm. Now he is rich and lucky, bless him but we want him to deliver and focus on his education consultancy so that parents are happy which he has never done. Of couse it is our choice to send our children through him or through anybody, I feel each one the education consultancies like EAZ are not better than the other. Let him earn a lot and let him live in peace!!!
Well i would like to comment these consultant dont have all the good colleges such as doon valley group of institutes in india they are offering placement in microsoft directly .As a private college it is a very good college of haryana in karnal
Dear Parents and students of Bhutan
I am deeply heart after reading the feed back from bhutanese students who intend to go for higher education in Indian colleges and higher educational Institutes. My sincere advice to the bhutanese students and parents is to personally check and verify the credentials of the college where they wish to send their children. Do not depend on the consultants words and assurances completely. In some cases they paint very attractive picture of the college and give false promises.
SIR SAXENA
GURGAON
Do anyone knows about the cancellation of edu bhutan consultant in bhutan?