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Rural schools calling

6 November 2009

Education is in the spotlight once again. And this time it is because of imbalance in teacher transfer, an issue that is at the heart of several educational heartaches. For a long time now, while the urban schools have burst at the seams, the rural schools have suffered an acute teacher shortage. That despite the policy requiring a teacher to serve in a rural school for at least three years.
It is common knowledge that some teachers have been in urban areas, especially in Thimphu, for more than a decade. This has direct relation to teachers who have been in remote areas for more than a decade. Probably, every teacher in an urban school has a reason for overstaying their term in the urban centre – to stay with his or her spouse, health problems, or family problems.
While some remain in urban centres due to genuine reasons, others always seem to find their way around with the authorities. Perhaps, most teacher transfers to Thimphu could be traced to a personal link or influence. Once posted in Thimphu, some teachers never get transferred to another dzongkhag while their colleagues in rural areas find themselves ever languishing in far-flung schools.
This has, in fact, created the rural-urban divide in the education system. This divide has, in turn, pushed rural children to urban centres creating enormous admission pressure on urban schools. That is why the ministry’s policy of not allowing ‘dependents’ admission in the urban schools has failed.
The recent circular asking Thimphu teachers to volunteer to teach outside Thimphu, Paro and Phuentsholing for a few years sounds almost pathetic. If a policy that requires teachers to serve in rural schools for a few years is already in place, just put it to work. And if some teachers have stayed in urban schools for more than 10 years, which is a long time, it is time for them to go elsewhere. So simply transfer them and bring teachers in rural schools out of the mountains and forests.
As long as the ministry continues to be influenced by family and spouse factor in teacher transfer, rural schools and urban schools will remain two worlds apart. And we will continue to talk about teacher excess and shortage at the same time.
Meanwhile, we must remember that this issue is not all about teachers, but also about rural students who are disadvantaged for life because of teacher shortage and resulting deficiencies.

Education is in the spotlight once again. And this time it is because of imbalance in teacher transfer, an issue that is at the heart of several educational heartaches. For a long time now, while the urban schools have burst at the seams, the rural schools have suffered an acute teacher shortage. That despite the policy requiring a teacher to serve in a rural school for at least three years.

It is common knowledge that some teachers have been in urban areas, especially in Thimphu, for more than a decade. This has direct relation to teachers who have been in remote areas for more than a decade. Probably, every teacher in an urban school has a reason for overstaying their term in the urban centre – to stay with his or her spouse, health problems, or family problems.

While some remain in urban centres due to genuine reasons, others always seem to find their way around with the authorities. Perhaps, most teacher transfers to Thimphu could be traced to a personal link or influence. Once posted in Thimphu, some teachers never get transferred to another dzongkhag while their colleagues in rural areas find themselves ever languishing in far-flung schools.

This has, in fact, created the rural-urban divide in the education system. This divide has, in turn, pushed rural children to urban centres creating enormous admission pressure on urban schools. That is why the ministry’s policy of not allowing ‘dependents’ admission in the urban schools has failed.

The recent circular asking Thimphu teachers to volunteer to teach outside Thimphu, Paro and Phuentsholing for a few years sounds almost pathetic. If a policy that requires teachers to serve in rural schools for a few years is already in place, just put it to work. And if some teachers have stayed in urban schools for more than 10 years, which is a long time, it is time for them to go elsewhere. So simply transfer them and bring teachers in rural schools out of the mountains and forests.

As long as the ministry continues to be influenced by family and spouse factor in teacher transfer, rural schools and urban schools will remain two worlds apart. And we will continue to talk about teacher excess and shortage at the same time.

Meanwhile, we must remember that this issue is not all about teachers, but also about rural students who are disadvantaged for life because of teacher shortage and resulting deficiencies.

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Comments

5 Responses to “Rural schools calling”

  1. Bhakta on November 12th, 2009 2:49 pm

    Goood thing read

  2. Tshering Phuntsho on November 12th, 2009 5:25 pm

    I am with the policy. It needs strict enforcement.

  3. Cring on November 14th, 2009 4:59 pm

    the simplest reason of making excuses to resign from the job by urban teachers should not be take granted.The law is law and it should be placed in practical, from black and white for future betterment in education system.

  4. karma Wangda (B.Ed. II) on November 16th, 2009 7:52 am

    The Education Ministry as a particular and New Government as a whole need to join their hands fill up the gap between rural-urban teacher shortage to fulfill our philosophy so called GNH. Its a time for every one to work togather.

  5. karma Wangda (B.Ed. II) on November 16th, 2009 7:53 am

    The Education Ministry as a particular and New Government as a whole need to join their hands fill up the gap between rural-urban teacher shortage to fulfill our philosophy so called GNH. Its a time for every one to work together.

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