A Responsibility Ahead.

I am an ardent lover of nature and admirer of phenomenons that occur in natural environment, therefore I believe in the lines of George Santayana who stated as follows;

“Everything in nature is lyrical in its ideal essence, tragic in its fate, and comic in its existence.”

And having pursued my graduation in Forestry, a subject of my choice, I have theoretically explored many components of nature in general and forestry principles in particular. But after studies comes a responsibility to work because of which I had successfully completed the requirements to join civil service cadre to put into application the knowledge I gained during my course of study. 

I knew my result of the BSCE 2012 and I was aware about the vacancies and places for posting. Had there been some vacancies in the functional divisions in Thimphu that would have remained my first option but there was none. After getting the guidance and suggestions from senior officers about the nature of work and working environment in different arenas of the same department, I thought of joining Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment as a researcher. By working in this institute, I would be in an intimate relation with nature besides not losing the traces of forestry knowledge I had acquired.

However, I couldn't get the privilege to be there, so had to go for my second option from the many available on 21/12/2012, the day initially speculated as Doomsday. The world didn't end, we didn't die, nor there was any Blackout, we were all smiling but I had a broader smile as I got my first placement in civil service. I have decided to work at Jigme Singye Wangchcuk National Park, the head office of which is at Tsangkha, Trongsa, and finally I could see a responsibility ahead. Responsibility conserve the protected area so as to protect natural habitats and help contribute in maintaining more than 60% of the nation under forest cover, besides sustainably utilizing the rich resources for the need of common people. 

Yet, awaited is the Appointment Letter to consider myself a member of Department of Forest and Park Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests. 

Crossing the Hurdles- BCSE 2012 Results.

When the dawn of 30^th November 2012 cracked, my mind was filled with anxiety yet I was excited and this might be a sensation which many of my peers felt because that was the day, when BCSE 2012 result was to be announced. For over 16 years of endeavour in academics, quite a number of Bhutanese youths finally graduates from colleges within and universities abroad in 2012. However, the degree certificate, be it a colourful A grade or a meager C grade, it only served as a license to write the Bhutan Civil Service Examination, the most premiere examination in the country to land a job in civil service. And after clearing all the due procedures, some 1078 graduates appeared for the main exams in October from the 2397 who wrote the preliminary exam in August, to contest for 596 prioritized vacancies. So finally, that day of 30^th November came a couple of days ago.

The performance of general graduates of 2011 was little better than that of this years. This year, the topper, a BBA graduate from Gaeddu College secured only 68.33% as compared to that of 2011 topper who secured 75.5%. Kuensel has announced the toppers from three categories of the BSCE 2012, viz.., PGDFM, PGDPA, and PGDE but not that of Dzongkha and Technical category. This earned some comments on kuenselonline where one reads as follows;

“We really want to see the real toppers.  No matter what are the category Under gone for examination the highest % of overall must be the real topper. One should be best in their own trade and the one who wins with highest % must have worked hard and he/she deserve to be topper.”

So upon reflecting on the marks obtained by Technical category, I found that a Traditional Medicine graduate topped the technical category with 73.12%, followed by Forestry graduates with 72.92% and 72.25% in second and third positions.

Regarding the Dzongkha graduates, there were only six who sat for main exams to contest for the 61 vacancies, and the toppers in the category have scored 73.94%, 67.24%, and 65.67% for the first, second and third positions respectively.

Therefore, if we were to declare the toppers of BCSE 2012 and not the toppers of separate categories, the top five positions would be as follows;

However, the fact that only the toppers of General Category are declared by the RCSC and not those of Technical Category, is also a point as there are hundreds of graduates competing for limited vacancies by answering to same question paper. In the Technical Category, we have only one paper in common and the two are different for graduates specializing in different professions. Besides many technical graduates are those who obtained scholarships abroad after class twelve so in many fields, the ratio of graduates to vacancies are nearly equal. Nonetheless, we should keep in mind that at the end of the day, it is hard work that is paid off well. Even some MBBS and Civil Engineers didn’t obtain the required 50% to join civil service.

Regarding my result, I was overwhelmed and wordless. During the Preliminary Exams, at 81% I was extremely happy, but was worried how well I could perform in the mains and now with 72.25% in the mains, I was on top of the world. I felt, some weakness in myviva but 14.24 out of 20, I now feel it is OK. Of course, getting a pass mark of 50% is enough for us to land a job but better rank offers better preference during placement so by virtue of fate or by virtue of my own efforts, I can live by my choice.

For a time being, series of exams has come to an end but awaited in queue are TOEFL test or so, but lying ahead is Tsa-Wa-Sum as Department of Forests and Park Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests is one step closer. Thank You almighty for all the blessings, teachers for all the faith and guidance, peers and relatives for all the good wishes and warm cheers. :) .

courtesy: linked.

Thanks for the congratulatory calls and messages as well and I also congratulate all those who made through in the BSCE 2012. For those who are not through, may you discover better arenas to work and serve. I too wish all my readers a successful life ahead.