KARACHI: The retake of the Medical and Dental College Admi­ssion Test (MDCAT) was on Sunday marred by mismanagement as the paper began two hours behind the scheduled time, causing hardship and mental agony to over 38,000 students.

The Sukkur IBA, which conducted the test at seven centres in six cities of the province, had announced that the test would begin at 10am and students should reach their centres by 8:30am.

However, the exam started at around 12 noon at all centres across Sindh and ended at 3:30pm.

While there was no official word about the delay, students and their parents had to stay at the exam centres for more than eight hours in the absence of any proper facilities or waiting areas.

Officials said that a total of 38,609 candidates appeared in the retake exam across Sindh.

PMDC says exam at seven centres in six Sindh cities started at 11:55am and ended after three and half hours

However, a Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) press release issued in Islamabad put the number at 38,684 and said: “The examination commenced at 11:55am simultaneously across Sindh and was successfully concluded after three hours and 30 minutes.”

In Karachi, two centres were established for as many as 12,849 students at the NED University of Engineering and Technology and the University of Karachi.

Over 25,000 students sat in the exam at Public School, Hyderabad (6,404 students), Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro (6,254 students), IBA Public School, Sukkur (5,586 students), Public Training School, Larkana (4,802 students) and Quaid-i-Awam University of Engineering and Technology, Shaheed Benazi­rabad (2,786 students).

Strict security arrangements were taken and no one was allowed to enter the exam centres without admit cards and national identity cards.

PMDC President Dr Rizwan Taj visited the two examination centres in Karachi and met with the officials of the testing service, the provincial health secretary and others.

In addition to PMDC officials deputed to observe the exam process, he said that the provincial, divisional and district authorities, security agencies, the Federal Investi­gation Agency and Intelligence Bureau were also present at examination centres for necessary support.

Meanwhile, police said that two persons were caught on charges of impersonating registered candidates at the NED university exam centre.

Both suspects were said to be MBBS students at Chandka Medical College in Larkana.

While rumours were rife on various social media platforms about leakage of the paper, the Sukkur IBA “strongly denied the rumours and said the “claims that the examination paper has been leaked are completely false and baseless”.

In a press release, Dr Asif Ahmed Shaikh, the CEO of SIBA Testing Service (STS), categorically rejected what he called the fake news and assured all stakeholders that the “examination process is conducted with the highest level of security and integrity”.

Dr Shaikh warned of legal action against the individuals spreading the fake news. “[We will] ensure that the credibility of our process is not compromised.”

The retake was conducted in compliance with the Sindh High Court’s orders after a probe committee had unanimously concluded that the previous test procedure had been compromised.

Ikram Junaidi in Islamabad, Moham­mad Hussain Khan in Hyderabad, M.B Kalhoro in Larkana, Zulfiqar Memon in Nawabshah also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2024