Trained to Teach, Discarded by the System

Bhutan’s education system is beginning to resemble a revolving door. Teachers are recruited during crises, praised as nation builders, deployed to difficult schools, and then quietly pushed aside once administrative priorities shift.

The recent accounts of PGDE-trained Dzongkha teachers losing their jobs expose more than individual hardship. They expose a deeper failure in workforce planning.

What makes this situation especially alarming is that it comes at a time when Bhutan is already struggling with severe teacher attrition. According to recent reports, between 2020 and 2025, over 5,500 teachers resigned while only around 3,600 were recruited, leaving a shortage nearing 1,900 teachers. Another report noted that more than 3,500 teachers left the profession between 2021 and 2024 alone, with rural schools suffering the most.

And yet, professionally trained Dzongkha teachers are now being told there is an “excess.”

This contradiction would almost be comical if real people were not paying the price for it.

Many of these teachers were self-financed trainees who studied at Paro College of Education because they believed teaching offered purpose and stability. Some borrowed money. Some abandoned plans to migrate abroad. Some accepted remote postings when few others would. Today, several are unemployed, emotionally exhausted, and financially dependent on family members.

According to The Bhutanese newspaper, one teacher reportedly said he survives on his wife’s income and feels ashamed he cannot support his family. Another spoke of being unable to help a father struggling with depression. These are not side stories. They are the real consequences of policy inconsistency.

The deeper concern is the message being sent to Bhutanese youth. Why would talented young people commit to teacher training when the system itself appears uncertain about retaining them?

For years, Bhutan has warned about rising teacher stress, attrition, and migration. Academic studies have repeatedly linked resignations to burnout, poor working conditions, and declining morale. Even national editorials now speak openly about a crisis in retaining educators.

At the same time, skilled Bhutanese professionals continue leaving for countries like Australia in search of stability and opportunity. Reports show that schools have already lost large numbers of experienced teachers to migration.

Against this backdrop, removing trained teachers from service is not just inefficient. It is self-defeating.

If remote schools still lack Dzongkha specialists, as the affected teachers claim, then the issue is clearly not oversupply. It is deployment failure. Bhutan does not have the luxury of wasting trained educators while simultaneously discussing teacher shortages in Parliament and the media.

A country serious about preserving its language, culture, and education system cannot afford short-term thinking. Teachers are not spare parts to be installed during emergencies and removed when spreadsheets change.

The tragedy is not only that trained teachers are losing jobs. The tragedy is that Bhutan may slowly be teaching an entire generation that dedication, qualifications, and service no longer guarantee dignity or security.