Poor Medical Students of GB
Written by: Mudassir Abbas
Conducting
entry test is an important procedure for any student seeking admission to an
educational institution. It is the best way to protect talented students
against high marks obtained by some students using unfair means, fake
certificates and different marking patterns of various examination boards.
Every year
thousands of students from different parts of Pakistan do appear in variety of
aptitude tests to get themselves enrolled in colleges and universities of high
prestige. Entry tests for medical institutions is particular topic of interest
in Pakistan, a country where the term “Doctor” holds an honorable status.
Studying for
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) is one of the most expensive
courses and very few students would be lucky enough to have affluent parents to
send their kids on self-finance. Given by its financial constraints government
can offer very limited scholarships by selecting students through entry test, where
a tough competition is expected to come, as the ratio for a single medical seat
to aspirant students is in triple digit. For majority of students because of
having low income status, passing entry tests holds the status of like do and
die.
In order to
bring students of backward areas at par with developed ones quota system is the
most effective mechanism, through which vacancies are allocated to all the four
provinces as well as Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), then
further divided it into district level. After eighteenth amendment, education
became a provincial subject, and now each province has its own educational
institutions and have different criteria, like having their own syllabus,
examination systems, and admission procedures. Eighteenth amendment has been
hailed as a great effort by our policymakers as a mean to make education more
accessible, but it proved to be a bane rather than boon for the students of GB.
Unlike rest of
Pakistan, they are facing unique kind of hurdles on their way to go through for
medical entry test. Like constitutional rights of the residents of GB,
educational rights are also continued to be denied for unknown reasons, despite
having high literacy rate than the rest of Pakistan.
The population
of two million lacks even a single medical college (and engineering college
too). In the absence of any medical college all the four provinces as well as
AJK have offered combined total of around hundred vacancies in their
institutions to the student of GB, with Punjab on the top. Due to this students
have to travel to all the four provinces to appear for the entry test in their
respective areas. Because of distant location of GB and having dangerous roads,
students have to face financial burdens as a transport fare on the whole
process of moving from province to province.
Time is another
assets which students have to scarily to try their luck for securing this noble
post of serving people. A bus takes 17 hours from Gilgit and 24 hours from Skardu
to reach Rawalpindi, besides travelling from far-flung areas to reach Gilgit or
Skardu. They also need to travel to Haripur, Karachi and Quetta for the entry
tests of KPK, Sindh and Baluchistan respectively. Due to time and financial
cost, majority of students prefer to go for the only test of Punjab, known as
MCAT, and very few students can go for all the tests. This year entry test for
KPK known as ETEA has been canceled twice, after calling students to the test
centers. For other students of KPK, it would be a little problem, as they
reside within the radius of few kilometres from test centers, but students of
GB has to travel hundreds of kilometres.
For girls it is
almost impossible to get themselves appeared for all the tests. As a
patriarchal society, many parents cannot let their girls to travel hindered of
miles alone, they need to be accompanied by a male, which is not possible for
every girl. Due to this, many brilliant girls have to skip their test even
after performing very excellent performance in their HSSC exams. Despite facing
many hurdles, girls belong to this region have outclass their male colleagues
in many fields especially in medical. Some years ago a girl from very poor
family topped Karakrum International University (KIU) board in HSSC exams, and
last year a married girl, topped the board.
If we analyse
the issues of syllabus, other problems looks negligible, as financial problems
are the burden for the pockets of parents, but syllabus problems put the burden
on already overloaded students. Unlike other parts of Pakistan, where students
need to be completely focused just for their provincial syllabus, the students
of GB need to learn variety of books recommended by all provincial
institutions. Beside cost of purchasing different books and notes of best
academies, these books are not available at easiest spots, for example KPK’s
books are not available in Rawalpindi, where most of students are currently
residing.
Academic mafia
is another problem in the list of these miserable students which are waiting to
exploit these students of having poor educational base. Through their marketing
strategies and collaborations with testing agencies, they make students believe
that, it would be impossible for them to succeed in entry test without their
help. Last year a famous academy’s name was circulating in media of its alleged
role in paper’s leak, due to this the whole test had to reconduct by UHS. These
academies are working like a cartels, as the timing and amount of fee is almost
equal in all institutions. Their fee level is in between Rs 28000 to Rs50000,
depend upon the nature of courses. They have their own notes, which are not
available at stationary shops, currently they are charging Rs 3000 for these
notes. Students of GB, in order to cover both syllabuses of KPK and Punjab, are
paying double fee, while placing the destiny of other two provincial entry
tests at the mercy of God.
The timing of
examination schedule of the board of KIU and FBISE is also different. Academies
always do start their classes just the very next day of last paper according to
FBISE’s timetable, whereas students affiliated with KIU (only board in GB) have
to miss these academies for at least month, due to their late schedule exams,
even they have to go back to Gilgit for practical exams.
Other problems
they are suffering are accommodation problems, they have to pay hefty amounts
as a hostel fee, which is at its peak by increase in demand. As GB is a cold
climatic region, the wrath of hot weather in Punjab, is unbearable for them and
become a hurdle in their studies. Many students complain of illness and stomach
problems, which they blame on spicy and unhygienic foods given at hostel. In
the days of Eid, except the students of GB, all the students as well as hostel
owners used to go to their homes to join their families to celebrate this
religious festival by closing down their hostels. These unlucky Gbians even do
not find enough time to miss their families, by wandering to find a roof to
accommodate themselves, and in searching restaurants to feed their stomachs, as
almost all the markets are closed for Eid days.
As for as the
part of recommendations at the end of any best columns, here it is not an
applied science difficult to understand. Need of the hour is that government
need to open their eyes, or if they are suffering from myopia, by failing to
see distant areas, they need to use convex lens, which should not be covered
with an extra lens of persecution. Solution lies in just two sentences, we need
a medical college, if impossible conduct entry test at Gilgit Baltistan, which
would be applied for the medical institutions of all the provinces.