KARACHI:
A crisis is quietly unfolding in our homes and classrooms: the crushing pressure placed on Pakistani students to clear MDCAT on their first attempt. For thousands of aspiring doctors, MDCAT has stopped being just an exam; it has become a measure of their worth as human beings. Parents invest their life savings, sometimes crores of rupees, into coaching centres and private medical seats while teachers set unrealistic expectations of ‘first-attempt success’. When a child falls short, they are shamed. Some silently drop the dream and switch fields, carrying the label of ‘failure’ for years. Others, tragically, do not survive the disappointment at all.
Researchers studying student suicides in Pakistan have repeatedly found failure in exams among the leading causes, and mental health support in our schools and coaching centres remains virtually non-existent.
Parents, teachers, and policymakers must recognise that clearing an exam does not define a child’s future or worth. Schools and test centres should be required to offer basic counselling support, and families need to be reminded that failure is a redirection, not a verdict.
Mahnoor Fatima Malik
Taxila
