Authorities at public medical and dental colleges are facing difficulties in verifying the genuine candidates who fall under the quota reserved for freedom fighters and their dependents, especially students who applied as their grandsons or granddaughters.
Around 100 students who applied under quota have so far been selected under the merit list, reserve and district quotas for the freedom fighters.
However, there are allegations that a large number of students from the 2,600 who applied under the quota this year had faked being grandsons or granddaughters of freedoms fighters to sit for the admission exams for MBBS and BDS courses at public colleges.
Earlier, only sons and daughters of freedom fighters were allowed to apply for the quota; but the government in 2011 issued a gazette which also made grandsons and granddaughters eligible.
The fixed reserve quota for freedom fighters is 55 at medical colleges and 10 at dental colleges. Each public college can allocate 2% of its total seatsfor students under the freedom fighter quota.
Seeking anonymity, several senior officials at Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told the Dhaka Tribune they were apprehending that a large number of candidates would produce fake Freedom Fighter Certificates (FFC), especially posing as grandsons or granddaughters.
The students had to be nominated based on supporting documents given by union parishads, the officials said, adding that the DGHS lacked enough manpower to recheck the additional documents.
There are also claims that students and their guardians were collecting FFCs for large amounts of money. The officials further informed that similar allegations could not be looked into last year, following obstructions by some influential people.
Sources at the DGHS said all the 98 selected candidates had earlier submitted photocopies of the FFCs to the DGHS office while applying. They would however be required to present the original certificates to the medical college authorities at the time of admission, along with legal documents which show proof of their relationship with the freedom fighter.
Several senior officials of the health ministry and the DGHS, preferring to be unnamed, said it was very tough for the quota seats to be filled up during the last few years, as most offspring of freedom fighters had already crossed the age to be admitted to medical colleges.
According to government directives, the relatives of freedom fighters have to submit either a certificate issued by Muktijoddha Sangsad countersigned by Sheikh Hasina between 1997 and 2001, or a certificate issued by the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs. The grandsons or granddaughterswill have to follow further instructions by public administration rules issued on May 9, 2011.
Asked about fake FFCs, Director (medical education) of DGHS Prof Dr ABM Abdul Hannan said: “We are very much aware in selecting the genuine freedom fighter quota candidates. We still did not get any specific complaint about producing fake certificate. We will get the clear data after the end of the November 5 admission date.”
A total of 3,344 students have so far been selected for 2013-14 academic session: 2,812 in public medical colleges and 532 at dental colleges. The admission process will continue till November 5.
