ETEA’s decision to hold entrance test in April worries students

PESHAWAR: The decision of the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to hold entrance tests for admissions to the medical and engineering institutions in April, even before the annual examinations, has stunned the students and their parents.

They feared it would prevent majority of the students from appearing in the test and demanded the authorities to revisit the decision.

The unexpected decision created unrest among the second year students of Pre-Medical and Pre-Engineering in the province. Most of them are skeptical whether they should make preparations for the entrance test or for their annual examination scheduled to be held in April and May, 2018.

The parents, who wanted their children to appear in the entrance test, were also unhappy with the announcement of holding it three months before its schedule.

“My daughter was very eager to appear in the entrance test for medical college but the recent announcement of ETEA has made her upset. She is now worried and fears she may not be able to attempt the entrance test as she will be busy with her preparation for her annual examination,” said one concerned father.

Pleading anonymity, he said that like him, ETEA decision had offended thousands of students and their parents. Calling it an important public issue, he said it is related to the career of thousands of brilliant students and therefore the government, ETEA, Higher Education Department (HED) and Khyber Medical University (KMU) should reverse the decision.

Interestingly, some officials of HED told The News that the decision to conduct the entrance tests earlier from its normal schedule was to reduce the cost of electricity used for pedestal fans.

He said ETEA had recently held a survey through the social media to seek response of the students about the new plan. He said 70 percent of the students rejected the new plan of holding entrance test in April while 30 percent backed the decision.

He said that majority of the students who backed holding the entrance test in April were the ones who appeared in the entrance test last year. “I was surprised when I came to know that supporters of the new date were the repeaters,” said the official.

Last year 33,000 students appeared in the entrance test and many of them complained about inadequate facilities in their examination centres.

Established in November 1998, ETEA has so far succeeded in controlling the use of unfair means in the entrance test.

In Punjab, the ETEA and other relevant departments were embarrassed last year when a paper was leaked ahead of the entrance test.

They had to repeat the test that delayed admissions in the professional institutions. The process has been just completed and academic session started a bit late.

When reached for comments, Prof Dr Arshad Javaid, vice-chancellor of Khyber Medical University (KMU), said they were working to facilitate the students.

He said they decided to establish three more centers in Mardan, Malakand and Kohat and hoped it would reduce 50 percent burden on Peshawar where most of the candidates appear in the test.

“Our aim is to provide a better environment to the students and that is the reason for establishing three more centres to divert the rush from Peshawar,” he argued.