First Higher Secondary School in Yoeseltse gewog inaugurated
On March 6, Yoeseltse Middle Secondary School in Yoeseltse gewog, Samtse became a higher secondary school (HSS). The lone stream available this year, the arts enrolled twenty-one students in Class XI.
The school was upgraded to accommodate students qualifying for class XI within gewog, make education accessible to local children till class XII and ease the financial burden on parents. The HSS will help students from Sangacholing, Ugyentse and Yoeseltse among others.
According to a spokesperson, in the past, only 60% of students would get enrolled in the schools of Samtse Dzongkhag, the remaining 40% had to leave the Dzongkhag to pursue their higher studies. ‘The students had to go as far as Zhemgang, Gasa, Bumthang and Samdrup Jongkhar to be admitted to Class XI,” added the spokesperson.
Students can now better concentrate on their academics without worrying about transfer problems, thanks to the HSS. Further, parents will no longer have to worry about sending their kids to distant schools with financial implications.
The gewog has 19 villages with 635 households and a population of 4442. People mainly depend on agriculture and livestock farming for their livelihoods. Many of them used to face hard times enrolling their kids in schools outside the gewog because of their poor economic stand. The locals will greatly benefit from the school upgradation.
However, with inadequate infrastructures, teachers and the presence of only an arts stream, the school will now have challenges in sustainably managing the HSS. There are 685 students including 351 boys and 334 girls along with 40 teaching staff.
The school intends to construct a hostel facility to accommodate students who travel a long distance. Currently, most students walk more than two hours to get to school as there isn’t a hostel while some have rented homes nearby.
The school with an area of 13.5-acres was established in 1961 and was transformed into a middle secondary school in 2007.
Meanwhile, the gewog administration has agreed to support a budget of Nu.2.2 M for the maintenance of 2-unit classrooms in the fiscal year 2023-2024.