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| Graduates waiting for Preliminary Exam paper |
‘Do away with preliminary
examination’ is one of the much expected pledges made by People’s Democratic
Party (PDP), which formed the government after landslide victory, during the campaign.
It has then become much debated issues within parents, relatives and mostly
within the graduates. The thousands of university graduate students are eagerly
waiting for the same. The great expectations generated within the groups. The
contentment out of pledges of ‘Do away with preliminary examination’ was one
where every graduate are waiting for so long.
Indeed, I am aware that in
the democracy, the pledges made by parties are partially fulfilled. In many
democratic countries in the world, the pledges are made in two categories. This
time in our country, the pledges are made in two categories viz. 100 day
pledges and pledges for the entire tenure. The ‘Doing away with preliminary
examination’ falls under the 100 day pledges. This should be fulfilled within
first 100 days as they pledged. Our nationwide general election was conducted
on July, 13, 2013. The preliminary examination for graduates was conducted on
11th August, 2013, after few weeks of new government came to the
power. The new government could not do anything else owing to the shortage of
the time.
No matter what, but
government says that they will do away next year. They worked jointly with
Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) regarding eliminating preliminary
examination. In Kuensel issue of November 13th, 2013, it was listed
in “Partially fulfilled” pledges. “Lyonchhen said the last preliminary
examination was held soon after the government took office, which was why it
was unable to fulfill the pledge of doing away with it. He said they were,
however, working it with the commission.” Kuensel reported.
When pledge of ‘Do away
with preliminary examination’ was unable fulfilled last year, they will fulfill
this time? This is a question that all the graduates were having in mind before
November, 2013. “The ball is in RCSC’s court, but this is something we’ll
discuss with RCSC,” Lyonchen was quoted in November issue Kuensel. “We believe
this serves no purpose; but we’re willing to ensure that RCSC has access to
enough funds to do proper examination for all the graduates; but if we can’t
reach an agreement, then we might have to change certain laws also.”
There were issues that
Main Examination need huge amount of money. To reduce expenditure, RCSC
conducts Preliminary Examination, is it true? To do away with preliminary
examination for graduates, there is need of more funds to conduct main
examination? The need of funds is baseless, but rather the Civil Service Act of Bhutan (CSAB),
2010 and Bhutan Civil Service rules and regulations (BCSRR), 2012 should
be amended. When preliminary examination is depicted in the laws, there is no
way to change it by few people; there is no authority for the cabinet to remove
it from the list. This should undergo various processes in the parliament to
amend the laws.
The opposition, Druk
Phuensum Tshogpa’s (DPT’s), North Thimphu MP cited an example that doing away
with preliminary examination, he said “RCSC schedule and election schedule were
in existence, and using the justification that the exam was conducted right
after the government came to the power was baseless.” The pledges were one of
the main controversies in the society after the news of ‘Do away with
preliminary examination’ was listed in ‘partially fulfilled’ pledges by
government in Medias.
The government has
fulfilled some pledges within 100 days and some are still waiting to be
fulfilled. Some pledges need more than years to get it fulfilled. However,
pledges are important factors of winning the election, so we wish our
government will soon fulfill it. The people in rural areas are waiting other
full-tenure pledges to see in their villages almost immediately.
Currently, the parliament
is in the process. During question-answer session of the parliament on Tuesday,
10th June, Pangbang MP questioned government about what is status of
the pledge of ‘Do away with preliminary examination’. In answer to that, Labour
and Human Resource Minister firmly states that they have respect for the
institution and they talked about it. Now government is asking RCSC to conduct
different exams for different university graduates. Hope this will come true as
the light path to all the graduates. We are waiting for this to come true.
It is only two months to conduct
preliminary examinations, if the schedule for the examination is on same date,
i.e. 11th August. Now there is no time to stay stagnant or sluggish,
as this change should be made before Commission prepares for the prelims. Did
RCSC agree to conduct different exams for different subjects? If so, for
example, what kind of exam papers will Bachelor’s of Arts graduates have to
appear? Now it is high time for all the graduates be informed for better
performance in the exam. We are hoping for the notification to see soon airing
in BBS or other print Medias.
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| Graduates after Preliminary Exam in worried mood |
Our
expectations:
We
have collective expectations from the government to ‘Do away with preliminary
examination’. All the graduates waited for long time to hear or see the news of
‘No preliminary examination for university graduates’ which does not come true.
It shows that one of the very important pledges made by government is not fulfilled
yet. Whenever, I walk street along with my friends, and being one of the unemployed university
graduates in the town, I could see that people around watching Tuesday and Friday
question-answer session intending to know how far government’s pledge of ‘Do away
with preliminary examination’ is fulfilled. It was devastating news for us but
still we the graduates have faith in our government as they find a solution to
conduct different exams for different university graduates.
We
are alarmed by the news when labour Minister answered the question put forward
by Pangbang MP. The news flourished all over the country and even to the ears
of soon going to graduates in India and other parts of the world through
friends and families via different means of Medias.
Why Government can't
do away with prelims?
As
I mentioned in above lines quoting North Thimphu MP, the RCSC is autonomous
constitutional body which have supreme power within themselves to enforce the
power. Though, they are funded by government but play a role as autonomous
body. The RCSC is headed by Chairman and Commissioners directly appointed by
the His Majesty the King. They function as autonomous agent under the direct
leadership of His Majesty the King.
RCSC
has their Act named Civil Service Act of Bhutan (CSAB), 2010 and Bhutan Civil
Service Rules and Regulations (BCSRR), 2012, which were passed by parliament
which has clause of preliminary examination for university graduates. There is the
CHAPTER 7: BHUTAN CIVIL SERVICE
EXAMINATION FOR RECRUITMENT OF UNIVERSITY GRADUATES is restricting government to do away with preliminary
examination. There are many clauses that restrict too. Read the following
clauses from BCSRR-2012, for the government’s failure or main restriction to do
away with preliminary examination:
7.3.
Examination
7.3.1. The BCSE
shall consist of the following two stages of examination:
7.3.1.1. Stage I:
Preliminary Examination (PE); and
7.3.1.2. Stage II:
Main Examination (ME).
7.3.2. Preliminary
Examination (PE)
7.3.2.1. The objective
of PE shall be to short-list candidates for the ME and ensure minimum standard
required of a candidate.
7.3.2.2. A candidate
shall be permitted to appear PE up to a maximum of three attempts only.
7.3.2.3. PE Papers
shall be common to all categories of graduates.
7.3.2.4. PE shall be
objective type questions to test English and Dzongkha communication skills,
logic and analytical, problem solving and data interpretation abilities of the
candidates.
7.3.2.5. Only those
candidates who achieve the minimum cut off marks as decided by the RCSC, shall
be eligible to sit for the ME; and
7.3.2.6. Marks obtained
in the PE shall not be carried forward to the ME and shall be valid only for
that particular year/examination.
I
am aware of the Civil Service Act of Bhutan (CSAB), 2010
and Bhutan Civil Service rules and regulations (BCSRR), 2012 and I read it
thoroughly, but I am sure that some of graduates are still vague. It is for
surety that government would be not able to go against the CSAB and BCSRR. Still
today, the government didn’t make it clear for the public whether it is done
away or not or will have chance to appear different questions for different
graduates as per the subjects we studied. Before getting late, the government
should announce for the interest of all the graduates, who all are waiting for
numerous months.
The preliminary examination
for graduates was first conducted in 2010 after the amendment of the Civil
Service Act of Bhutan. The thousands of university graduates appeared and more
than half who appeared were eliminated. Now it has been forth times the
preliminary exam was conducted by RCSC in objective to short-list candidates
for the Main Examination and ensure minimum standard required of a candidate.
When government says they
will discuss with RCSC to change the format of the questions according to the
subjects that students studied. The Labour and Human Resource Minister say in
the parliament that prelims will have different questions for different
graduates. Will these words be fulfilled as they said? In the BCSRR clause -7.3.2.3
it is mentioned that “Preliminary Examination Papers shall be
common to all categories of graduates.” If the government wants to
change the format of the questions, this clause should be eliminated from
BCSRR. So, therefore, I personally feel the words government aired would be
baseless. There are many things to be changed in BCSRR clauses to eliminate
preliminary examination for the graduates. This is not an easy task to
eliminate preliminary examination when CSAB and BCSRR are active.
There are many categories
of graduates viz. degree, diploma, certificates, etc. In degree there are many
types of degrees such as Bachelor’s of Education, General Degrees (Bachelor’s
of Arts, Business Administration, Commerce, etc.), Technical Degrees (Engineering,
Laws, Medicine, etc.) and many more. When General, Technical and any other
related degree graduates are scrutinize for two stages, the Preliminary
Examinations and Main Examinations. But why Bachelor’s of Education and Diploma
and certificates have different recruitment policy? Be it general, technical,
B.Ed., diplomas, certificates, and others are under same umbrella, the BCSRR. When
recruitment policy in RCSC is different, I personally feel the CSAB and BCSRR
should be amended to make recruitment policy same for all. The government’s
policy of “Equity and Justice” would be fulfilled.
