JI seconds demands of students protesting against MDCAT test

Jamat-e-Islami Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman on Monday met with the students protesting against the recently conducted entry test under the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test Action Committee.

Talking to them at their sit-in protest in front of the Sindh Assembly building, he said parallel education systems existed in the country. “One is for the lower and middle class and the other is for the upper strata.”

He said the entry tests under held under the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council were better and more result-oriented than the current Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC). “The entry test held under the PMC was a sham and the JI will never allow the administration to deprive the students of their rights.”

He said the PMC had been given a free hand to the education mafia to fix an exuberant fee structure and if the mafias was not barred from exploiting the students, it would go after the engineering institutions too.

He alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan had allowed the education mafia to exploit the citizens the way the PM backed the sugar and flour mafias. He regretted that no minister from the Sindh government had dared to visit the protesting students. “Their absence is ample evidence that the provincial government is indifferent to this matter. “

In support of the students’ demand, he asked the government to conduct a fresh test, saying 28 questions out of 200 in the previously held entry test were given out of syllabus. He said carbon copies of papers should also be provided to the students in the new test.

Rehman demanded of the government to bring improvement in the system for re-checking papers, display result on the MDCAT website and put a condition of having the Sindh domicile mandatory for candidates.

He said students should be given at least 40 days before conducting the new test and that the government should put a check on the increase in the fee structure at the private educational institutions.

He requested the Sindh High Court to secure the future of students and announce a verdict in the case on a priority basis. Action Committee leader Muhammad Maaz said the students were sitting at the sit-in for the last two days but the Sindh chief minister was not ready to listen to their demands. JI information secretary Zahid Askari also attended the protest.