Do you have Any Workshop?

NOOO...NOTHING...

As the year 2014 draws to a close, most teachers are attending workshops and short-term skills training. But for some teachers like me, it is the same story as always: no workshops, no training, no skills—just survival.

A few teachers from my school have been assigned invigilation duty, visiting examiner roles, and similar tasks. But most will have to survive the winter on their meager monthly salaries. As for me, like many years before, I have been staying humbly at the school. Nothing of the sort has been offered to me. Opportunities like invigilation duty come only once every ten years or more—truly a once-in-a-blue-moon chance. And apparently, the moon is not blue in my neighborhood.

There is a story about this kind of rare opportunity. In 2007, a lady teacher came all the way from Haa to Punakha for invigilation duty. She stayed in an expensive hotel, paying nearly Nu. 400 per night, plus food, for herself and her two children. Unbelievably, her daily allowance was only Nu. 300. Let me do the math for you: she was losing money faster than a gambler at a rigged table. When asked why she had come for the duty, she said she would not miss her golden opportunity. She seemed crazy, but it is true. Well, that is another story. Possibly a psychological case study.

For some teachers, however, workshops, seminars, evaluation duties, and the like have been unending blessings. The same person often goes to one after another. You know the type. They attend a workshop in Paro, then a seminar in Thimphu, then an evaluation in Trongsa. I have heard that one can avail such opportunities if one knows people in the Ministry of Education, BCSE, or other relevant offices—if one has connections. I have also heard that being a lady helps. I am neither. I am just a man with a pen and a growing collection of unopened rejection letters.

There are nominations from the school, but when the time for selection comes, someone has already been chosen. These nominations are done purely to show that everything is fair—to claim that the process went through proper channels from the grassroots level, and to have documentation in case any issues arise with the ACC or other parties. That is certain. It's like locking the door after the horse has not only bolted but also sold the stable.

As of now, I have no workshop of any kind—news of such opportunities barely reaches me. I hear about them from colleagues returning with free notepads and catered lunches. "Oh, it was fine," they say, wiping their mouths.

Apart from this workshop, I will have to go to a Shakti workshop or a Durga workshop in Jaigaon. My car needs a good workshop to function properly. Yes, you heard that right. My car has a better chance of getting repaired than I do of getting trained. At least the mechanic knows my name.

So here I am. No invigilation. No seminar. No blessing from the Ministry. Just me, my meager salary, and the faint hope that next year—maybe, just maybe—the moon will turn blue.

Or at least my car will start.