June 28: Next month, 66 trainees will be graduating from the College of Natural Resources in Lobesa. In the past all the graduates were absorbed by the Agriculture Ministry. Last month, the college was informed that from this year the ministry will take in only the required number of graduates. The rest will have to look for jobs elsewhere.

The 15th batch of trainees will graduate from the College of Natural resources next month. But they are not looking forward to their graduation day. In the past, all the graduates were absorbed directly by the agriculture ministry but now the college authorities have been informed that they will take in only the required number of graduates. Unlike in the past, they have no guaranteed jobs and their future is uncertain.

Dorji Wangchuk is the Director of the College of Natural Resources in Lobesa.

"Till now we have no employment problem. This institute was established by the ministry of agriculture mainly to address the human resource needs of the ministry of agriculture. So till 14th batch all of them were employed by the ministry of agriculture but from now on because of the zero growth policy, the ministry will absorb as many graduates they need and the rest of the graduates will have to find employment outside the ministry of agriculture," he said.

The college offers diploma courses in Livestock, Agriculture and Forestry based on the needs of the Ministry of Agriculture to cater the needs of the farmers in the country.

Dorji Wangchuk said as soon as they knew that their graduates will face difficulty in getting employment, the management conducted a survey to review the diploma programs currently offered by the college.

"This study is to look see if our graduates are not required by the ministry of agriculture then we may even have to phase out the diploma programme. If we phase it out then we'll have to look into what areas we have to diversify our programmes at diploma level," said Dorji Wangchuk.

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture said because of the zero growth policy of the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) they cannot take in the graduates like in the past. However they said they have requested the RCSC to allow the ministry to employ some of the graduates.

The RCSC says the zero growth strategy of the OD exercise conducted in 2007 was to ensure that the total number of civil servants are contained at the present level during the 10th Five year plan. This means that the government will provide additional manpower to sectors and agencies whose growth and expansion is desirable for the new economy whilst reducing in areas where the mandates are lesser priority or their services can be outsourced to the private sector.

Dorji Wangchuk said they are planning to introduce degree programs from 2009. He said initially the degree programs will be offered to in service people. But what remains to be seen is where and who will employ the 66 graduates whose graduation is drawing closer by the day.