Government recruits Indian tutors

Thimphu, August 14: In one hand, unemployment has been increasing in Bhutan, on the other the government has now brought new policy to hire tutors from India with special packages and allowances.

Reports said that the government would invite tutors for mathematics and physics subjects. The shortage of teachers is for middle and higher secondary school level.

Since last month, the education ministry began providing 20 per cent of the basic salary as 'scarcity allowance' to Indians working in the country. The allowance was clubbed with the 30 per cent contract allowance that should be paid to the Indian teachers in addition to their basic salary.

Director of the education department Tsewang Tandin said the provision was an interim measure to attract Indian teachers and also to retain the existing ones and that it would be scrapped once the seats were fulfilled.

Records with National Institute of Education (NIE) in Samtse show only a few Bhutanese graduating from the institute take up these two subjects as elective during their training course. There was no graduate or postgraduate lecturer in mathematics and physics in NIE last year. In 2004, only about 17 teachers graduated from NIE with mathematics.

Bhutanese have shown very little interest in mathematics during the past few years. The result of the secondary board and higher secondary board also recorded that most student failed in mathematics. Bhutan News Service