RCSC and MoESD look at a plan to finalize school admissions by December to ease teacher deployment

With growing public concerns over teacher shortages and perceived delays in the recruitment process, the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) has issued a clarification on the structured and collaborative efforts behind teacher deployment in Bhutan.

The clarification follows public discourse, including remarks from the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD), suggesting that to deploy teachers in the schools where there are teacher shortages, the minister has to wait for RCSC’s approval.

In response, the RCSC emphasized that it had approved the recruitment of 605 contract teachers, within a two-week turnaround, following a thorough consultative process with Dzongkhag and Thromde Human Resource teams.

The RCSC reiterated its close coordination with MoESD, highlighting that both institutions are aligned in their shared mandate to ensure timely deployment, optimal resource utilization, and the uninterrupted delivery of quality education.

The RCSC said deploying teachers isn’t a single annual exercise but is conducted in four cycles throughout the year.

Each cycle is aligned with different education and administrative milestones. The primary intake occurs in January when regular teachers are recruited through the civil service system, based on annual attrition, transfers, and projected needs.

Another large recruitment happens in March or April, when contract teachers are hired based on finalized school admissions and section sizes.

A third cycle allows dzongkhags and thromdes to hire replacement teachers for those on long-term training, maternity leave, or early retirement.

Finally, Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) graduates are placed in July, after completing their extended 18-month course.

What complicates contract teacher recruitment, the RCSC noted, is the timing of school admissions, which only begin in February. Given the 530 schools across the country, confirming student numbers and calculating teacher needs typically takes over a month.

Only after this rigorous assessment are the requests sent to RCSC for approval. This process is not bureaucratic red tape, RCSC explained, but a necessary step to ensure efficient, data-driven deployment of teachers and to avoid overstaffing or misalignment of resources.

Any acceleration of this process without thorough analysis could lead to inefficiencies, with some schools having excess teachers while others remain understaffed.

The RCSC said it had approved all proposed contract teacher positions within a two-week turnaround.

“We have always been working closely on teacher recruitment to accomplish one single goal without pushing blame thus far,” the RCSC said.

The RCSC also laid out several reform-oriented solutions, which are currently being explored in partnership with MoESD and local education offices. Among these is the recommendation to finalize school admissions by December.

“Strengthening the school admission system with a defined calendar (for example, to close all admissions by the end of December) to leave sufficient time to complete the teacher needs assessment in January and have teachers ready for deployment by the end of January, ready at the start of the school year,” said the RCSC, and further added, “A clear student admission policy across the country with a defined method would be key to preventing delays in teacher recruitment.”

The RCSC further suggested that schools should align admission numbers with infrastructure capacity, as over-admission in some areas and underutilization in others leads to unbalanced teacher deployment and a last-minute rush for resources.

The RCSC also pointed out that the existing Education Management Information System (EMIS) needs enhancements to support real-time data tracking, enabling parents and schools to make informed decisions during admission season and reducing unnecessary student transfers that complicate workforce planning.