More than 6,000 Arts students wonder what to do after RUB axes Arts Courses from Govt Colleges

No courses offered from CLCS

The Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) on 26 January 2023 released the list of undergraduate and diploma courses for 7 government colleges under it.

The biggest notable change was the entire Arts and Humanities Programs of Sherubtse College like BA in Dzongkha and English, BA in English, BA in Media Studies and BA in History being removed.

Other courses removed from the college were BA in Population and and Development Studies, BSc in Geography, BSc in Environmental Science, BSc in Computer Science and BSc in Statistics.

The changes are a part of efforts by the RUB to revamp courses, avoid duplication of courses and make the courses and graduates more job oriented.

BA in Dzongkha and English, BA in English, BA in Media Studies, BA in Development Studies will be offered only in the two private colleges of Royal Thimphu College (RTC) and Norbuling Rigter College (no media course here).

The problem here for the humanities students is that the two private colleges are not for free like government colleges.

RTC charges Nu 210,700 to Nu 222,700 per year for boarders while it charges Nu 151,800 per year for day scholars.

Norbuling Rigter charges Nu 169,468 per year for boarders and Nu 124,132 for day scholars.

BSc in Computer Science is available in Gyalpozhing College of Information Technology and BSc in Environmental Science is offered in College of Natural Resources (CNR) along with Climate Studies.

However, programs like BA in History, BSc in Geography, BSc in Statistics and Sociology (earlier with political science) are not listed anywhere.

The RUB has instead introduced new courses in Sherubtse like Bachelor in Digital Communication and Project Management, Bachelor of Data Science and Data Analytics and Bachelor of Economics and Political Science Elective Track.

The new courses have been introduced with an aim of making the humanities graduates more employable, however, it is not clear how humanities students will warm up to and transition into the more technical and economics based courses.

As RUB puts the axe to humanities programs in Sherubtse there has been a major outcry mainly from class 12 pass out students from the Arts Stream wondering about their educational future.

Of the 13,373 students from 84 Higher Secondary Schools who appeared for the Bhutan Higher Secondary Education Certificate (BHSEC) exam in 2022 there are a total of 6,543 Arts Stream students who appeared for the test of which 5,805 passed with a pass percentage of 88.72, which is also the highest pass percentage of the three streams.

After the RUB announcement, hundreds of students came online questioning why there were no humanities courses in a government college like Sherubtse.

The worry was especially acute for those who took Dry Arts in high school which is Arts without Mathematics as courses now on offer are mainly to do with Mathematics or subjects not familiar to them.

The main complaint was on why the students were not informed of these changes coming up earlier and why there was no coordination between the colleges and the schools.

Some suggested that RUB should at least allow the current BHSEC students to pass through on the earlier courses before implementing the changes.

Chencho Nidup Tshering said, “Reforms should be constant and not sudden, and this is very sudden. This step should have been implemented only after the completion and the acceptance of 12th standard dry arts students who have graduated during the year 2022 and who will graduate during the year of 2023 into their compatible choice of course in RUB colleges. If it is processed that way, the students need not suffer and the education system can easily get rid of the dry arts stream and allow the new 10th grade graduates to open up for other streams. If you want to build something you should take the present situation into consideration as it will make the long term goals more achievable.”

One the same line parent Dechen Dema said, “If I were aware of this I would not have wasted time and money by making my son study in a private school (Karma Academy). Our dreams are shattered. I am sure same goes with thousands of students and parents. So the concerned authority may kindly give a second thought and do us a favour.”

Many said that Arts Stream was already looked down upon and now these actions are discriminatory against them. Some pointed out that many leaders in Bhutanese society have come from Arts backgrounds and that Arts has so much more to offer.

Worryingly many of the students said that the doing away of Arts Courses would mean no other option but to head for Australia.

Kunzang Wangmo ‘thanked’ the RUB for encouraging students to go to Australia.

Some students pointed out that the doing away of humanities courses will impact their career and employability.

Kinzang Tande Pemo said, “Our future is ruined. The differentiation between us and science has become vast. Not only in school, but the government is now setting arts aside which is unfair. I wonder what we will do. Later in future most of us will be left unemployed due to lack of further education. The government doing such things make our life more miserable. If it is going to be like this, then the arts stream should no longer be given or offered in future.”

Another major change is that the College and Language and Culture Studies (CLCS) is not offering any courses this year which means it will not take in any more students for now.

This is in line with informal speculation that the college will be closed down or converted into something else.

The CLCS used to offer Bachelor of Arts in Language and Literature, Bachelor of Arts in Dzongkha and Culture, Bachelor of Arts in Himalayan Studies and Masters of Arts in Choekey and Dzongkha.

A major concern over the years has been the employability of the graduates of CLCS whose courses do not help.

However, it is then not clear why the RUB has not made any changes in the courses of another college, CNR, whose graduates also struggle to gets jobs relevant to their courses or jobs at all.

Whenever vacancies are floated in the private sector the maximum applicants are usually from these two colleges of CLCS and CNR.

The CNR courses of Diploma and B.Sc. programs in Agriculture, Animal Science, Forestry, Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Studies and Food Science and Technology remain untouched by RUB.

A major change is in the Jigme Namgyel Engineering College (JNEC) where the BE in Power Engineering, BE in Mechanical Engineering (available in CST) and BE in Surveying and Geo Informatics have not been offered in the RUB listing.

The JNEC will offer a host of Diploma courses in Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computers Systems and Networks, Surveying, and in Materials and Procurement Management.

A Diploma in Construction Supervision is a new course.

The College of Science and Technology (CST) is offering two new courses of BE in Water Resources Engineering and BE in Mechanical Engineering.

This is in addition to its regular courses.

The Paro College of Education has removed Diploma in ECCD but is offering its other normal courses.

The Samtse College of Education is no longer offering the BA in Social Work Education.

RUB responds

The RUB Vice Chancellor Nidup Dorji said humanities students need not worry as under the reforms in RUB, most Arts programs at Sherubtse College have been repackaged into the 3 new programs listed above.

The VC said the reforms will be a continuous process; programs will be reviewed, revamped, updated, made more relevant and aligned with the changing job market.

Courses at CNR will also be subjected to continuous review.

On what will happen to CLCS the VC said CLCS will be repurposed to offer programs for which there will be demand. He said, “Graduates from the current programs face difficulty in getting employment.”

On the concern among 12 pass arts students over dry arts and math he said arts students without Math/Business Math can apply for B.Ed. in Paro and a few programs in other colleges, but those with Math/Business Math have more options as most programs now require Math/Business Math.

The VC said entry into GCIT, CST and the 3 new programs at Sherubtse will be based on entrance and aptitude tests. Class XII marks will be used for shortlisting. In the future, admission into most programs will be based on entrance exams.

The Education Minister Jai Bir Rai when asked about the concerns of class 12 students said that the RUB and Ministry of Education and Skills have not discussed on the issue so far and the ministry is not aware, but the ministry would sit with the RUB and discuss the future of Arts.

In case of the academic future of arts students he said that under the Tertiary Education Policy around 60 percent of students are supposed to go into Technical and Vocational Education and so that could be one option among others.