As a part of the Distinguished Guest Lecture series, RTC was honored to have Lyonpo Dorji Choden, the first female Bhutanese Minister, talk to the students on, ‘Women in Development’ on 14 May. Her Excellency shared some of her personal experiences about being a women, a working mother, and the challenges of balancing her personal and professional life. She also shared some personal challenges faced in her career. Her Excellency stated that from time immemorial, there has always been differentiation between the roles of men and women , but in today’s Bhutan women today are given equal opportunities and have the same standing as men, be it in public affairs or Bhutan’s culture and traditions. The pointed out that during the last 5 decades of modernization, there have been a lot of changes on the social, economic and political front and the role of women has evolved along with such changes. Her Excellency said that with a good education system the participation of women in public spheres is definitely increasing. ‘Having equal women representation is an important factor and education is a social equalizer. No matter who you are, where you are from, you can take the opportunity if you have a good education’ said Lyonpo.  

However, there are still a lot of gaps when it comes to positions at the decision-making level. Lyonpo shared current statistics demonstrating that women leaders in decision-making positions are very scarce, with only 6% of parliamentarians being women and few women at the local government as compared to men as well. Her Excellency stated that this low representation of women in government is a concern that every citizen must keep in mind. She said, ‘In this fast changing face of transformation, particularly in this democratic transformation, we cannot afford to have less representation from women. We have to get equal representation for a vibrant and inclusive democracy. Not just women, youth, the elderly and the disabled are also inclusive proof in a democratic setting”. Lyonpo also shared findings from a survey done during the 2011 local elections regarding some of the barriers that kept women from participating in the national elections. She said that a lot of initiatives are taken by the Govt, CSOs, and Commissions in addressing this issue but it still remains a major issue to ponder on.

“A family I believe is the fundamental unit that determines the health and strength of society and the nation. If we have men and women understand the interdependence, as interrelated human beings, as loving companions contributing equally to their families and society, living in harmony,there cannot be another place of happiness. This should be our unique way of how women contribute” said Lyonpo.

The Department of Computer Applications (BCA), Royal Thimphu College in collaboration with Thimphu Tech Park (www.thimphutechpark.com)organized an Industrial tour for the BCA students to Bhutan’s First Tech Park on 10th April’2014. The main purpose of the visit was to provide the students with first hand exposure to the IT sector in the country. The tour was conducted to give the final year BCA students a clear picture of the status of IT in Bhutan and job prospects in the IT sector. The Tech Park, being the leading organization in this sector in Bhutan, provided this very useful support to the RTC students. The tour was divided broadly into two sections. The first half included introductory talks by Mr. Somnath Chaudhuri (Faculty, Dept. of IT, RTC) and by a final year RTC student on the final year projects and subjects or tools related to them. Then, Ms. Sonam Choden, the Office Manager of Thimphu Tech Park/BITC, presented on the roles and responsibilities of Tech Park in the promotion of IT in Bhutan. There were also presentations from two developers of the SELIES Company, Mr.Arpan and Mr. Thanka. Tech Park Officials stressed in their comments that fresh IT graduates can play an important role in the development of IT in the country.

The second half of the event provided students and faculty with a tour of the Tech Park's Data Centre, its setup, maintenance and application. This provided a practical look at how the network servers and the data are maintained in a secure and efficient manner. The event ended with an interactivequestion-answer session. All in all, this varied event enriched the BCA students' understanding of the Tech Park and it’s functioning as well as the role of IT in Bhutan's present and future.

The Student Government at RTC with support from the National Blood Bank and Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital, Thimphu hosted its 8^th Blood Donation Campaign at the campus on April 9, 2014. The campaign is one of RTC’s many efforts to support the community. The specific purpose of the campaign is to help replenish the supply of various kinds of blood at the Blood Banks in the capital and to sensitize the youth on the need for safe blood to permit life-saving medical procedures.

The first Blood Drive was held in 2010 and since then the college has been hosting campaigns every semester encouraging new donors to participate. Previous years saw a lot of participation from RTC students, staff and faculty members. This year a total of 210 registered donors. However, due to health issues like blood pressure and hemoglobin count only 148 (96 Male & 52 Female) of them could make their donations. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a successful event that not only helped replenish supplies at the Blood Bank but also helped raise awareness among the students, mainly of whom were first time donors

RTC is one of the major blood donor institutions in the country. The college has been recognized as a regular blood donor organization and was awarded a ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ from the Ministry of Health in June, 2013.

Simple events like this can help build socially responsible habits in youth and promote community health and happiness. RTC plans to continue these kinds of activities in the future.