The Health Ministry is planning to eliminate admission tests for public and private medical colleges from the upcoming academic session, and instead opt for enrolling students based only on their SSC and HSC results, said health sector sources.
However, a final decision in this regard will be made at a stakeholders meeting headed by Health Minister Mohammed Nasim on June 30, several senior officials of the ministry and health directorate told the Dhaka Tribune.
The meeting is scheduled to be attended by top officials of the Health Ministry, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC), Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) and other officials concerned.
Sources said the initiative to change the admission system comes on the heels of the recent controversies surrounding question leaks as well as part of an attempt to reduce the hassles of taking tests of around 70,000 students.
Refusing to comment on whether there was any plan to cancel the traditional admission test system, Dr ABM Abdul Hannan, DGHS director of medical education, told the Dhaka Tribune that they wanted to find a system that was acceptable to all.
A final decision regarding the issue will be made at the upcoming meeting, he added.
Dr Moazzem Hossain, president of Bangladesh Private Medical College Association (BPMCA), however, told the Dhaka Tribune that they preferred reforms to the admission policy instead of the introduction of a brand new admission system.
He said the BPMCA will recommend that the government take separate admission tests for private medical and dental colleges. A separate proposal will also be placed for collecting Tk2,000 as admission test fee for private med schools, and Tk600 for public ones to ensure that only the students who are truly interested and financially capable of getting admitted into private colleges apply.
Currently, there are 2,862 seats available at 23 government medical colleges, while 55 private establishments offer 4,850 places. There are also one public and 18 private dental colleges with 532 and 1,050 seats respectively.
Last year, 64,000 students sat for the admission test.
According to the existing admission policy, a student can sit for the test twice, while a survey found that around 60% of the students who passed the test were ones who were appearing for the second time. To pass the test, a student has to score at least 120 out of 200 marks (100 marks from SSC and HSC and 100 marks from the admission test).