Graduates, Civil Service Examination & Coaching

Around 3400 graduates sat for Preliminary Examination, the first part of three-step entry exercise to the Bhutan Civil Service in professional and management cadre which in other words is officer’s cadre. Those graduates might have different reasons for attempting to crack the exams. Some did this for mere employment. They might have realized that this process is most fair process in recruitment system of Bhutan. Some attempted it just to park themselves in civil service while waiting for better opportunities to come their ways. Some might have attempted as they genuinely want to serve in public service or some might have any other options. Whatever the reasons, they attempted to succeed.

On August 22, when result was announced. Only 927 scored above 50 % which is eligible percentage to sit for next round of selection. Those thousands whose hopes are dashed would be trying to figure out what is next for them. Some may be drinking their frustration out in the bar while some may be putting up applications for every available vacancies while few will be browsing websites for doable entrepreneurial opportunities. Of them some hundreds with lucky connections will get jobs in corporation and private sectors while few other hundreds with expertise in their fields will be recruited by few fair minded firm.  Majority of the remaining will either be idle or be exploited by myriad of human rascals. As usual, government will publicly try their best to send some of them abroad with dual aims of reducing employment rate as well as for remitting hard currencies. Idle politicians with their eyes set on next election will talk loudly in both conventional and social media while some of us will lament on lack of opportunities, education quality and so on in the bar with bottle beer on our reserved table. Media will try to blame this and that without blaming everyone in particular for want of advertising money from public sectors.   Lastly, some individuals and service firms will be busy targeting those 900 successful graduates in hope that they fleece some money with promise to help scoring high in main examinations.

Since introduction of Preliminary Examination in 2010, the performance in preliminary exam could be the worst ever. Here too, those unsuccessful graduates will blame on tough sets of questions while outsiders like me will blame the quality of education in Bhutan. As usual, those consultancy firms will be highlight few successful candidates (who might have been brilliant anyway) while advertising quality of their firms for next round of money fleecing. They will hide hundreds of unsuccessful candidates who underwent their coaching classes. They will try fleecing money ranging from two thousands to just below 10 thousands for mere 48 hours of classes. Most of their resource persons will never have undergone process of examinations they seem to be teaching claiming to be experts. They will never have understood either rationale or cognitive selection process. All they will do is collect all past papers, pretend to solve and shove down on the throat of gullible graduates. Few smart resource persons will try to teak questions here and there for further fleecing of money. But their primary mission is making money. All they care is getting maximum at a minimum effort. From money earned from those coaching classes, they relax for next one year.

At the end only limited number of graduates will get into civil service. Others will have wasted just their money collected from parents, siblings and cousins. In such time I always remember ironically advice my teachers gave me ‘if you study hard (meaning textbooks), you will get job.’ I used to think ‘what if 100% percent of us pass out with same high percentage and there is vacancy for only 20% of us?’  This is similar situation in Bhutanese job market. The advice shouldn’t be getting jobs but it should be creating jobs. For this our education system and as well as our educators need overhaul. What is right ten years ago is not right anymore? Otherwise, some training and consultancy firms will continue fleecing money in the name of preparing for limited civil service jobs.