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HC asks govt to explain legality

Admin — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:52:52 +0000

New MBBS, BDS admission system
HC asks govt to explain legality
The High Court on Tuesday asked the government to explain in four weeks the legality of its decision to enrol students at medical and dental colleges based on their
grade point average scores in the Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary School Certificate examinations instead of admission tests.
The bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar passed the order after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Supreme
Court lawyer Md Eunus Ali Akand challenging the decision taken by the health ministry on Sunday.
The court, however, did not grant a prayer for an order to stay the operation of the decision until disposal of the writ petition.
The secretaries to the ministries of health and education, and the director general of the health directorate were asked to reply to the ruling in four weeks.
‘There will no legal bar to going ahead with admission process under the new system as the High Court has not stayed the government’s decision,’ attorney general
Mahbubey Alam told reporters after the court order.
Moving the writ petition, Eunus submitted that enrolling students at medical and dental colleges by holding tests had been in practice for 40 years, but the rights of
the admission seekers had been infringed by a sudden decision the respondents had taken on Sunday.
The 40-year system could not be repealed without due process of law, Eunus argued.
He submitted that as per the government decision the minimum requirement for admission seekers in the medical and dental colleges was a total of eight scores of the
HSC and SSC results but about one lakh students had a maximum 10 points each.
The lawyer also submitted that there were eight education boards and one madrasha board in the country and the question papers of
the HSC and SSC examinations were not the same.
It is difficult to ascertain by the HSC and SSC results who were truly competent candidates, he said.
There are about one lakh students who scored Grade Point Average -5 in the HSC 2011 and 2012 but in the country there are less than three thousand seats available for
admission in the medical and dental colleges each year, said the lawyer adding it would not be possible to pick competent candidates without admission tests.
The lawyer alleged that the respondents had made this decision for personal gains and not for the interest of the nation.
The attorney general opposed the petition saying it was not maintainable as it had been filed without a gazette notification of the government decision.

-With New Age input

The post HC asks govt to explain legality appeared first on Dhaka Mirror.

Students give govt until Aug 26 to cancel decision

Admin — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:51:58 +0000

Admission seekers protesting against the decision to enrol students in medical and dental colleges without admission test on Tuesday gave the government an ultimatum
to cancel the new system by August 26.
The students said they would announce their next protest programmes on August 27 if their demand was not met by the August 26 deadline. They will also bring out a
procession from the Central Shaheed Minar on August 26.
They continued their protests for the second consecutive day in major cities and towns demanding restoration of the system of admission tests for enrolment in medical
and dental colleges.
The government on Sunday decided that students would be admitted to medical and dental colleges from this year on the basis of their results in SSC and HSC
examinations instead of admission tests.
Several hundred admission seekers wearing shrouds blocked roads, brought out processions, staged sit-in and formed human chains in Dhaka, Chittagong, Barisal,
Rajshahi, Sylhet, Rangpur and other districts towns to protest at the government decision.
They submitted memorandums to prime minister Sheikh Hasina through deputy commissioners in Chittagong and Rajshahi and to health minister AFM Ruhal Haque in Barisal
and Rangpur.
A memorandum was also handed over to the health minister in Dhaka demanding
restoration of the admission test system for enrolment in MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) and BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) courses.
Several hundred admission seekers under the banner of ‘Medical Bhartichchhu Shikkharthibrinda’ (admission seekers in medical colleges) blocked traffic in front of the
National Press Club and Shahbagh intersection for about six hours from midday.
The blockade triggered huge traffic congestions on the roads approaching Shahbagh causing terrible sufferings to homegoers and Eid shoppers. The barricade was lifted
at about 6:00pm.
Earlier, five representatives of admission seekers — Tanmay Sutradhar, Anannaya Kanika, Farzana Afrin, Nazmul Haque and Ishak Shahriar — handed over a memorandum to
the health minister demanding restoration of the admission test system.
The minister told reporters that since a writ petition was pending with the High Court, the government would take a further decision in line with the court order. He
alleged that coaching centres for medical admission were inciting the agitators.
Both Tanmay Sutradhar and Farzana Afrin refuted the allegations while talking with New Age. They said the health minister had told them that the ministry would take a
further decision in line with the court order.
Earlier, at about 9:00am several hundred students accompanied by their guardians staged a sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar.
Agitating students also held a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity to explain their stance. Ishrak Shahriar in a written statement said the new system would not
be transparent; rather it would make room for corruption in the admission process.
Mehedi Hasan, an admission seeker, said the government should restore the test system and if the authorities wanted to change the system, the announcement should have
come at least a year ago.
Ashiqur Rahman, another student, said the government had cancelled the test system to rein in the business of the coaching centres but they had already had tuition at
such coaching centres in exchange for large sums.
Bangladesh Chhatra Union and Bangladesh Chhatra Maitree formed human chains and brought out processions in Dhaka in solidarity with the protesters.
New Age correspondents in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Barisal and Sylhet reported that protesters wearing shrouds had staged demonstrations, blocked roads and
staged sit- in and submitted memorandums to the local administrations demanding cancellation of the new admission system.
The admission process of MBBS and BDS is expected to start in September. Altogether there are 8,493 seats in all medical and dental colleges in Bangladesh. The number
is 2,811 in 22 government medical colleges while 4,245 in 53 private medical colleges.
Bangladeshi students who got GPA 8 in SSC and HSC combined will be eligible to apply. The lowest grade for foreign students and indigenous students is GPA 7.
A total of 30,123 students scored GPA 5 in HSC examinations from science group this year.

-With New Age input

The post Students give govt until Aug 26 to cancel decision appeared first on Dhaka Mirror.

Students burst into protests, writ petition filed

Admin — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 20:45:44 +0000

New admission system for MBBS, BDS courses
Students burst into protests, writ petition filed
Admission seekers on Monday burst into protests across the country against the government’s decision to enrol students at medical and dental colleges without admission tests.
A Supreme Court lawyer on Monday filed a writ petition challenging the government decision to enrol students at medical and dental colleges based on their grade point average scores in Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary School Certificate examinations instead of admission tests.
The government on Sunday decided that from this year medical and dental colleges would admit student on the basis of their results in SSC and HSC examinations instead of admission tests.
Supreme Court lawyer Md Eunus Ali Akond, in the writ petition, sought a rule asking the government to explain the legality of the decision.
He also prayed for an order staying the operation of the decision until disposal of the writ petition.
The bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar will hear the writ petition today, the lawyer said.
Several hundred admission seekers blocked roads, brought out processions, staged sit-in programmes and formed human chains in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Barisal and others districts towns in protest at the government’s decision.
They also submitted a memorandum to the health minister in Dhaka.
The admission seekers demanded restoration of the admission test system for enrolment in MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, or in Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae) and BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) courses.
Protesters said the new system would not be transparent rather it would make room for corruption in the admission process.
Several hundred admission seekers under the banner of ‘Medical Bhartichchu Shikkharthibrinda’ (admission seekers in medical colleges) blocked traffic on the street in front of the National Press Club for about four hours from 4:30pm in protest at the decision.
Nazmul Haque, a leader of the medical college admission seekers, said the protesters would hold a sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar at 9:00am today.
Mehdi Hasan, an admission seeker, said the government should restore the admission test system and if the authorities wanted to change the system, the announcement should have come at least a year ago.
They termed ‘illogical’ the decision to take students in medical and dental colleges without admission tests and on the basis of their GPA results. This system would not be transparent and make room for corruption as the students do not know how many marks they have obtained in different subjects as boards provide grade point sheet instead of marks sheet.
The students said they had taken preparations for admission to medical colleges for over one year. As a result of the decision to scrap the admission test, they would be deprived of the opportunity to enrol at medical and dental colleges.
Students, also accompanied by a good numbers of guardians, earlier went to the secretariat at about 4:00pm to submit a memorandum to health minister AFM Ruhal Haque, who left his office before students reached there.
Protesters also brought out processions at different points of the Dhaka, including Karwanbazar and in front of National Press Club, and rallied at the Central Shaheed Minar.
Students gathered at the Shaheed Minar at about 10:30am and staged protests until about 1:30pm.
New Age Chittagong correspondent reported that the students formed a human chain in front of the local press club demanding withdrawal of the decision to cancel admission test for enrolment in medical and dental colleges.
Students of some government and non-government colleges took part in the protest.
New Age Rajshahi correspondent reported that admission seekers had formed a human chain in front of the Rajshahi Medical College in protest at the government decision. Several hundred students rallied in front of Rajshahi Medical College at around 10.00am protesting at the government decision and formed one-kilometre long human chain.
New Age Barisal correspondent reported that a group of admission seekers along with guardians had formed a human chain to register their protest against the new system of GPA based medical and dental college admission.
The protest organised by Samajtantrik Chhatra Front in front of Barisal Aswini Kumar Hall also demanded immediate reversal of the decision.
Meanwhile, medical admission coaching centres sent messages to the admission seekers, asking them ‘to unite and voice their protest strongly’. Several admission seekers, also students of Retina, a medical admission coaching centre, told New Age that they had received such SMS from the centre.
A group of admission seekers will hold a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity to press home their demand for restoring the admission test system for MBBS and BDS courses.
Bangladesh Chhatra Union demanded cancellation of the government’s decision to enrol students in medical and dental colleges based on grade point average in SSC and HSC examinations without admission tests.
The admission process of MBBS and BDS is expected to start in September. Altogether there are 8,493 seats in all medical and dental colleges in Bangladesh. The number is 2,811 in 22 government medical colleges while 4,245 in 53 private medical colleges.
The nine public dental colleges and medical colleges’ dental units have 567seats while 14 private dental institutes have 870 seats.

-With New Age input

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