Medical College Entry Tests: Health safety rules flouted
The admission test for medical colleges was held across the country yesterday amid widespread violation of health safety rules outside many exam centres, risking further spread of Covid-19 in the country.
Hours before the test began in 55 centres at 10:00am, admission seekers and their guardians started gathering in large numbers outside the centres. They were seen standing or sitting close to each other, oblivious to maintaining social distancing.
The examinees complained about insufficient sanitation arrangements at the entrances of the centres, although the government had assured maintenance of social distancing and health guidelines during the test.
The guardians said they came with candidates keeping in mind several issues such as possible problems on roads and the students not being allowed to take mobile phones inside centres.
"The guardians and examinees stood so close that they could feel each other's breaths on their shoulders. There was no seating arrangement as such outside the centres to enable them to sit while maintaining distance," said Mohammad Shamim, a father of an examinee, outside a centre in Dhaka.
More worryingly, some guardians did not even wear masks, he said. "How could you ensure social distancing without having taken any such measures at this critical time?
"This could fuel a jump in coronavirus infections at a time when the number of infections keep rising," he said.
Over 1.16 lakh candidates took the one-hour test for the 2020-21 academic year against 4,350 seats in 47 government medical colleges and another 8,340 in 70 private medical colleges. At the 15 centres in Dhaka city, some 47,000 attended the test.
On March 24, Health Minister Zahid Maleque insisted that the MBBS admission test would be taken in compliance with health guidelines.
The Daily Star correspondents and photojournalists, while visiting at least five exam centres in Dhaka, found that on many occasions admission seekers were facing obstacles while entering and exiting the centres due to the gathering in front of the halls.
"We faced overcrowding while entering the exam halls. We needed to make our way in the crowd -- it was dangerous," Nusrat Tahmina told the Daily Star after taking the exam at Teachers Training College.
She, however, said there was not much problem inside the centre -- each bench was occupied by just one student.
Zeenat Ara Chetona, who took the exam at Udayan High School, said, "When we entered the centre, we couldn't maintain social distance. In fact, it was almost impossible due to the presence of a huge number of admission seekers and guardians."
But the authorities provided hand sanitisers inside the centre and they sat one student per bench, she said.
There was a huge traffic jam in front of the Dhaka College centre since 8:00am due to the presence of examinees and guardians. A huge gathering was seen in front of the Teachers Training College and Government Laboratory High School centres, which are located close to each other.
Candidates and parents started coming to the examination centres of Dhaka University from 8:00am.
A father waiting outside the gate of Arts Faculty of Dhaka University said he left home early in the morning because he did not want to take any risk due to the transport crisis.
But there was no clear instruction about the guardians, and so they were least bothered about the safety rules.
"We all know how poor our sense of responsibility is. The government was keen on holding the test, but did not make any arrangement."
Nurul Azam, a guardian waiting in front of Udayan High School, said, "There are only five to six security guards here. It is not possible for them to handle such a huge crowd. There is also a lack of awareness among parents. They were blocking the path in front of the gate."
Another guardian, Mukhlesur Rahman, who came from Savar told this paper, "All other exams were postponed due to the new outbreak of coronavirus, but the health ministry themselves took the admission test. It will give a wrong message to the people."
"There was a transportation crisis for a few days; we came early so found no problem but how will we go now?" he asked.
Professor Dr AKM Ahsan Habib, director (Health Education) of Directorate General of Health Services, said in a press release after the exam that they maintained the health safety guidelines properly during the examination.
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