As the Phase of Life Changes.

It was during the winter of 2007 and having given the BHSEC from Bajothang Higher Secondary School, I left for my vacation with loads of fruitful memories. During my childhood days, my duty during the winter vacation was to rear the sheep and cows on the pastures and hillsides everyday but no more then as the population of sheep declined drastically. My last and longest vacation of school days was historic as I got to attend many political campaigns, and hear the voices of politicians as they made numerous promises and having taken part in casting the votes for the candidates of NC and NA of the first historic election of democratic Bhutan. In the village, it was always fun with the village folks during the annual village tsechu, losars, annual lochoes, etc. and of course working at the sites where new houses were constructing. However, my mind was never engrossed in those activities but deep within I had that worry, a worry about my BHSEC result. Though I was quite confident that I had done my best, I was little worried about the consequences of my luck.

source: google images

It was during the month of February that I came to Wangdue town to wait for the declaration of our results as my village was quite inaccessible to media if not for the FM radio only. Today we have electricity to light our homes and B Mobile network to reach the friends and relatives. So in front of the computer, I was checking my result on the Bhutan Telecom website on the evening of the result declaration. It took quite a time and when I finally could view my scores, I was happy to see that my marks were good enough to seal a slot for scholarship provisions. For few successive weeks, I did not miss the kuensel issues to see the notifications and advertisements regarding the availability of scholarships for further studies but somehow I missed it. By the time I learnt about the it, I was left with just a couple of days to submit my documents to the Scholarship Division of Department of Adult and Higher Education. This made me rush to the capital city which was my first time. Of course during my first journey, one of my cousin brothers accompanied me. Rushing from the hospital to the DAHE office, from DAHE office to the Xerox shop, it was a tedious job for me and more tiresome and tough, when I didn’t have a friend.  

Worst, I could not decide specifically on which field of study to choose as I didn’t have good idea about the scope of different courses. Nor could I avail much advice from those who have ideas. I was a bio math student and coincidentally my marks in those two subjects were equal, which gave me a better option in both the bio and math fields. My favourite is bio so I had chosen in the bio field. Me being a villager have a good attachment with forest so Forestry is what I have chosen adamantly and didn’t dreams a shit about becoming an engineer. My parents being illiterate and uneducated, they neither pressurized me to focus for certain specific ambitions, nor did they have any objections for my choice of course and that’s the liberty I enjoyed being a son of farmer.

Now that the class twelve results are out, quite a number of our dear brothers and sisters might be excited and in jubilant state with their good marks. For them what is important is to get themselves vigilant about the notices and advertisements regarding the opportunities of further studies besides getting themselves equipped with all the necessary documents like medical fitness certificate, security clearance certificate, class ten mark sheets, etc. It is always advisable to keep atleast three Xerox copies of each. Meanwhile they should consult with the seniors, teachers, and authorities concerned about the prospect of choosing the course of one’s interest. There are many instances of career mismatch and even those sent on government scholarships land up without a single job vacancy when they complete their courses and come back. While it is good to make the choices, it is sometimes best to take the chances as well.

Since the news reports states that only 15% of the total class XII pass outs will be absorbed by RUB, it is for sure that some 75% of our class twelve pass outs will have to either get into the job market, which is already facing the scarcity of jobs. Farming, though it is one of the best and sustainable sources of income, our youths show hatred towards the profession. From my point of view provided that one’s parent have a good land resource, it is best to become an educated farmer than earning a meager sum by picking up job which neither satisfies us, nor our parents.

What so ever the situation may be the youths should now get themselves prepared to face the challenges and accept their fate. It might be painful and agonizing experience this season for some unlucky ones and it is during such times that our youths tend to follow the wrong path, so it is important that our parents and authorities concerned gives them best counseling and groom them face the real world.