Students staged a protest outside the Supreme Court Registry against the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT). As per students, PMC should hold the MDCAT in a single day across the country.
The protesting students demanded of the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the issue. The protestors were of the view that PMC was conducting the MDCAT exam on various dates across the country. According to medical students, such a practice leads to leaked questions and is an act of injustice.
Additionally, MDCAT not holding the test on the same day is a violation of the law. Under the mandatory provision of Section 18 (1) of the Pakistan Medical Commission Act, 2020(PMCA), MDCAT was to be held “on the same day” as “a single admissions test” in order to provide equal opportunity to all the candidates/ students.
However, PMC holding the tests from August 30 to September 30, is a sheer violation of Article 4 of Constitution and the Section 18 (1) of the PMCA.
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Important to note, students who appeared at the beginning of September-2021 had only the span of one month for the preparation of the said “Entry Test.”
On the other hand, those appearing at the end of September-2021 will enjoy the length of almost two months for the preparation, leading to discrimination in contravention to Article 25 of the Constitution.
Therefore, the students are demanding that government restore the previous procedure of the test.
WeRejectPmcMdcatTest2021 trends on Twitter
Earlier, medical students flooded social media with instances of how PMC failed them. The root cause of the issue was the online testing system.
With the TEPS website failing to work for many, students faced severe hurdles while giving the online test. For many students, the website did not even load.
https://twitter.com/sadi_fayyaz/status/1440893339776139269?s=20
They are not able to secure their website ,so how will the be able to secure our future. #tepswebsitehacked #WeRejectPmcMdcatTest2021 pic.twitter.com/z29YduF8V3
— SheikhNoushair Jallat (@NoushairJ) September 21, 2021
As for those for whom the website managed to work, they spotted several mistakes in the questions. Students stated that the Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) did not have the correct option. Some MCQs had the correct options, yet marked the student’s answer as incorrect. Another student claimed that the test was based on questions outside of the syllabus.
Medical students are in outrage over the online testing system. Due to the problems mentioned, many students received low marks, thus diminishing their chances of a lucrative medical career. As per students, PMC and MDCAT are actively ruining lives and futures.
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