Prelims and its impact on graduates

During the last session of the Parliament, the government informed the House that they were working with the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) on doing away with the preliminary examination (PE), a pledge made by the government.

RCSC has not entertained the letter from the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources asking for PE to be done away, based on the provision of the Civil Service Act of Bhutan 2010.

It seems nothing can be done on the front as the registration for the PE is still on, with the registration starting from June 18 till July 17. The PE is scheduled to start on August 10.

Meanwhile, there is the issue of the impact it has on the graduates who were waiting for the government to do away with the prelims. There are graduates who not happy with the decision and have decided not to appear for Bhutan Civil Service Examination (BCSE) while some say it is okay although the wait has left them with a limited time to prepare.

“For a student like me, I need an ample time when it comes to preparation of entrance exam, in order to sit for the main examination, and I feel that it would definitely affect me since I was expecting it to be done away, but it didn’t happen. Anyway, I have two more quota left for my PE and I shall try my luck this time,” Kezang Choden said.

Dorji Wangchuk, a 2012 graduate with arts background and had initially planned to sit for BCSE, said he has now decided to drop the idea to appear for entrance exam. His attempt at the PE earlier was a failure and he does not waste his quota and time this year.

He said the PE has more to do with math, data interpretations, etc., subjects he did not study in college. He added that he would not have had problems with the PE if the questions were set from subjects he studied in his degree course.

A Sherubtse College graduate, Dechen Pema, 20, said, the pending decision on the PE might have affected her to a certain degree as she was collecting study materials for the main examination and not for PE. “The only thing I need to do is to collect the materials for my entrance exam because, so far, I did not collect any materials, thinking that there won’t be entrance exam this time.”

As the graduates hurry to gather study materials, there are a few graduates already preparing full swing for the PE within the limited time left. Around 3,000 graduates have registered for the PE so far.