Medical entrance tests : CM orders inquiry into ETEA leak

Students stage protest outside Peshawar Press Club against the breach

PESHAWAR: With reports that the question papers for the entrance tests for medical colleges in the province, to be administered by the provincial government’s testing agency, were leaked shortly before the papers were to take place, the results have been halted pending a proper investigation.

The move came after the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan took notice of the paper.

On Sunday, the Khyber Medical University (KMU) had organised entrance tests for public and private medical and dental colleges simultaneously at seven locations across the province. The test was to be administered by the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA).

However, some students complained that the paper had apparently leaked on August 17, and a group of people were sharing it on social media (Facebook and WhatsApp).

On Monday, medical students staged a protest outside the Peshawar Press Club and demanded that the government to immediately suspend the concerned ETEA officials and hand them exemplary punishments.

They also demanded justice for their time which was wasted and the pressure they have faced from their families.

The new K-P chief minister took notice of the issue and ordered an investigation into the matter. He assured students and their parents that prompt action will be taken against those involved.

Arif Nadeem, a student who had appeared in the exams told The Express Tribune that “first I ignored the papers shared on social media, but when I attempted the paper, I saw the same multiple choice questions in the same sequence.”

The leak was initially denied the rumours about the paper being leaked, though it was conceded that the questions appeared on social media in viral posts after the exam had been conducted.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2018.