Up to 15,691 candidates appear in UET entrance test

Parents say arrangements were poor

PESHAWAR: A total of 15,691 candidates appeared on Sunday in the entrance test for admission to the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Peshawar, and its sub-campuses across the province for the academic session 2016-17.

The tests were held simultaneous at four centres - Peshawar, Abbottababad, Swat and Deral Ismail Khan. The Educational Testing and Evaluating Agency (ETEA) supervised the test. Students from across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adjacent tribal areas, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan appeared in the examination.

The results would be available on the ETEA website - www.etea.edu.pk - today (Monday). It would also be displayed on the main notice board of UET, Peshawar. In Peshawar, the test was held at the Islamia Collegiate School and the cricket ground of the University of Peshawar.

Strict security measures had been taken on the occasion. Acting Vice-Chancellor UET, Peshawar, Prof Dr Iftikhar Hussain, who visited both the centers, expressed satisfaction at the arrangements for the test.

He said due to large number of students appearing for the test in Peshawar, it was conducted at two places so that the students may not face any difficulty and congestion. However, there was great rush on the roads and at the venues of the test as a total of 9,763 candidates turned up there. They included 9,382 seeking admission to engineering disciplines and 381 in computer science group.

Like the previous years, no arrangement had been made for the car parking in the nearby areas and seating of the parents, who had to accompany kids, especially the females. The parents complained that they had to park vehicles near Hayatabad and had to walk for all the way for several kilometers to reach the test centres.

They said that the entrance test for both the engineering university and medical colleges have become a regular phenomenon and the government should make permanent arrangements for it. They said it is absurd to arrange such high profile test on the cricket grounds.

The parents said the testing agency charge them in thousands per kid and tens of thousands candidates appear in the test. But in return only a mineral water bottle, a pencil and a sharpener is given to the students, they added.

“If they collect in millions from the students appearing in the test, they should make proper arrangements for them and their parents/guardians,” said one parent. At the Abbottabad Centre among 1,848 candidates, 1,804 appeared for the engineering group, whereas 44 candidates for the computer science group.

At the Swat Centre, 2,644 candidates appeared in the test. There were 2,598 candidates for engineering disciplines, and 46 candidates appeared for Computer Science group. At the Dera Ismail Khan Center, 1436 candidates appeared in the test. There were 1,397 candidates for engineering disciplines, and 39 for Computer Science. Altogether 570 female candidates and 15,121 male candidates appeared in all centres.