School Clarifies on CE Complaint Letter on Public Forum

It has come to school's notice that certain 'Memehele, undoubtedly our own CE Arts student coming from Punakha, has posted 4 points complaint letter on Kuensel Forum. It's totally unexpected and sad to see that the student despite having clear understanding of the CE policy in school and the problems faced by the school in keeping the program going, chose to defame the school in public. School though not mandated to pay any attention to such baseless allegations would still like to provide detailed explanation so that it doesn't mislead the concerned stakeholders.

Following is the complain copied from Kuensel Forum"

I have many questions regarding the CE programmes in Bajo HSS.1. Is there any directive from MoE to collect extra Nu. 5000 as the security deposit. Where will this amount go if I happened to miss the examination due unavoidable circumstances.2. Is there any directive from MoE to collect the fee in lump sum.3. Are the CE tutors competent enough to teach all the classes. School Counselor was made to teach XII Arts where he is not allowed to teach.4. History was taught by as many as 3 teachers. Many repeaters of 2011 and 2012 are enrolled and this causes a nuisance to the genuine CE candidates.So I would suggest the concern Authority to provide a quality qualitative education than making money.Or make Punakha HSS or Ugyen Academy to introduce it. This will improve the quality of CE programme in Wangdue- Punakha valley.It is evident from the above that CE in Bajo is just doing for name sake. It seems there is no planning and coordination. Some times tutors never turn up on time. and have to go back without classes after commuting as far as Punakha and Lobesa.

Continuing Education(CE) Program in Bajothang has been a big success for over three year, with many civil servants and school dropouts finally grasping their second chance to Education. Many of them have done very well and are now in colleges across the country and abroad. Inspired by the Changes we brought to the lives of so many people, school tried to keep the program going despite huge implications on school facilities and human resources that goes in it. If Bajothang is proud of CE program it's only because of the positive feedback from our ex CE students.

But this year we are saddened by letter an adult student wrote on public forum questioning the integrity of the school and the people involved in it. We would like to provide the following explanation, though it should have been understood without having to say;

1. The Nu.5000 security deposit is introduced this year to counter the huge number of CE students dropping out of exam at the end of the year. This had direct implication on the school's overall result because CE students are treated as our students by BCSEA and absentees are calculated as 'fail' against the school's name. However, the money is refundable and will be promptly given back on the last day of the exam. School will also consider the genuine cases of students dropping out due to unavoidable circumstances. 

2. The Fee is collected in lump sum to ensure that students are committed to full year schooling and to avoid dropout cases in the middle, which the school has bitter experience. School is still waiting for many students who dropped out last year to return their textbook. The solutions for problem the school faces will not come from elsewhere.

3. Because school doesn't have Arts stream with its regular students we do not have enough teachers to teach arts subjects. School therefore decided to do away with Arts stream in CE as well but many CE students came forward to request the school to retain the stream. School hired history teacher from Punakha to solve the problem but because of his health he had to withdraw, after which school requested the school counselor. He is a very experienced teacher and had been teacher from seven years before becoming school counselor. 

4. As much as the writer of the complaint letter considers him/herself as genuine CE students the rest of the students who are repeating are genuine too. They also want to continue their education and school has admitted them based on the admission rules. Such selfishness makes the whole purpose of coming to school useless.

CE program is not a money making business at all, with an annual fee of just Nu.10,000 it's the biggest opportunity to education, when elsewhere in private schools the fee is not less than Nu.50,000. The program is one big extra responsibility taken by Bajothang HSS, and given the chance school would happily give it up for any school wishing to take up. It's not compulsory for any teacher to teach CE classes but school administration requested to work for this great cause, given the chance many teachers would choose family time and rest over the money they get from the program.