The directorate general of health services yesterday announced that a mere third of test takers passed the admission test to study medicine and dentistry.
The Dhaka Tribune has learned that most of the selected candidates on the merit list were taking the exam for the second time.
The admission test pass rate for both public and private medical colleges was 34%, State Minister for Health Zahid Malek said yesterday. This year’s cohort is roughly half male and half female.
This means more than 44,000 students of the 66,987 who appeared for the admission test on Friday failed to secure the minimum pass mark of 40 points required to apply for admission to MBBS and BDS courses.
Bangladesh Private Medical College Association President Dr Moazzem Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune he was concerned about the number of candidates who scored 40 on the test.
“We will propose to withdraw the pass mark bar. We want at least 45,000 candidates to be eligible to apply to be admitted at private medical and dental colleges. Last year, the ministry kept the option open for more than 50,000 students,” Zahid added.
The state minister for health said the test took place peacefully and without any controversy. He thanked health ministry and health directorate officers and employees as well as journalists for helping to hold a fair admission test.
This is first time the health directorate has announced the medical and dental admission test results in the presence of journalists.
Several high officials of both the health ministry and the health directorate told the Dhaka Tribune it was true that the number of previous test-takers on the selected merit list was much higher than the number of first-time test-takers. But they could not provide exact figures.
Huge numbers of new students who had double GPA 5 marks failed the test but older students who had a combined GPA of 8 or higher got a chance this year, officials said.
Iffap Kamal Bappy, who had appeared from Chittagong Medical College test centre scored 181.50 points, the highest mark among all aspiring MBBS students, the Dhaka Tribune learned.
Rifat Tanjim who appeared from Dhaka Dental College test centre scored the highest, 167.25 points, among BDS aspirants. The lowest marks for medical and dental admissions were 158.25 and 152.50 points, respectively.
Sources in the medical education section of the health directorate said the highest marks last year for public medical and dental college admissions were 196.50 and 176.75 points, respectively.
DGHS sources said 29,650 students got 40 points in the previous admission test. There was no minimum score for that test so any candidate scoring 120 out of 200 was eligible to apply. Of the 200 marks, 100 is calculated based on the candidate’s SSC and HSC results – 60% HSC score and 40% SSC score – and the rest comes from the admission test.
This year, however, no student will be allowed to apply if he does not obtain a minimum mark of 40 on the written test.
Some 22,759 students are eligible for admission to medical and dental colleges on the basis of the merit list. Of the successful candidates, 11,446 students are male while 11,313 are female.
When asked whether the health ministry would relax the pass mark barrier if private medical and dental colleges cannot fill their seats, Health Secretary MM Niazuddin said: “Let us see. We will let you know later. We don’t want to comment on it right now.”
He said the government would fix a ceiling on tuition fees at private medical and dental colleges.
The admission of selected candidates to all public medical college will start on October 30 and continue until November 15.