What is this issue with medical admission test in Sindh?
I saw lots of young girls on TV crying, cursing the authorities. As I understand, recently some Biology text books and course outline has changed and for the medical admission tests in universities were based on new course outline. Though students were studying the old course from last 2 years and they demand admission test based on old course outline. They were saying students in Punjab had the option to appear in admission test of their choice (old or new).
Wait they'll be required to take the exam under new course outline even tho they're studying the old course? That's kinda messed up... but every school that does that, they put those new courses in effect in the next few years..i remember taking the Regents exams in HS, every student in NYstate has to take it... they changed the exam but it was only for class of 2004 and after, so we were saved :)
Hm, is the issue that Punjabis have the choice to study from the old material or new material whereas sindhis do not?
Sounds like discrimination to me. But then we’re talking about Pakistan. Anything to keep those dirty dark sindhis low on the ladder of success, right?
Yep, Punjabis are the whites of Pakistan and sindhis should quickly adopt "Man is keeping us down" slogan.
PCG, dont you think the problem is with the colleges or universities/boards that choose not to give the option to sindhis? But then again, Punjabis will always do anything to keep the sindhis down
PCG! the answer can be a subjective one or an objective one. I will skip my personal experiences and try to be strictly objective.
The question at hand is one of board of intermediate and secondary education (BISE) sindh. In Pakistan federal government gives the outline of the educational policy but the policy is implemented by provincial governements. That’s why we see the government in NWFP requiring educational institutes to ask students to discard ‘western’ uniform. Obviously the government of Punjab isn’t responsible for these wonderful reforms there. Similarly, the the bureaucratic and academic machinery of Sindh is responsible to ensure that students do know the exact outline of their syllabus. I think the ‘victims’ in this particular case were those who were ‘improving division’. They must have been tested according to old syllabus in BISE exam but whoever was responsible for admission test failed to give them this choice. Now blaming it on Punjab is very unfair. And I’d love to hear the other side of the story as well. These students might have been trying to kick up a fuss because they couldn’t do well on exam.
Punjab government was the first to introduce admission test for medical and engineering universities in late 90s in the most bizarre and idiotic manner possible. The other provinces followed suit. And, interestingly, the first question papers for Punjabi students came from IBA Sindh and not from some Punajabi institute.
Now the medical education in Punjab is mostly governed by UHS, although the best institute KEMC refuses to be an affiliate. In Sindh the governement machinery is responsible for how they want to structure their medical education. Punjab government doesn’t force them to do anything. And those who think that education in Punjab is easier than in Sindh are either naive or in denial. I’m not talking about a few private sector institutes. The higher education student/institute ratio in Sindh is much better than in Punjab. But there standard is abysmal. Only a handful of professional colleges/universities in Sindh provide quality education. To me, people graduating from Chandka medical college are nothing but quacks. My sindhi friends themselves always accepted it. Punjabis don’t run Chandka. It’s unfortunate that punjabis are blamed for everything that goes wrong anywhere in Pakistan even when no Punjabi is involved in the whole scheme of things.
There are. As I pointed out federal government does determine the parameters of the syllabus. But the papers are set by provincial or divisional departments.
I understand what you're saying. But something BASIC like the material tested on the exam...that should be uniform. From what JonyBr has said, and he should correct me if I'm wrong, is that the tests being administered in the provinces are DIFFERENT. They should not be. It should be one national test devised from a joint committee.
The country is too small to divide up stuff like that among provinces, IMHO. Then you're opening up the problem of disproportionate quality medical care among the provinces.
There are more than one BISE boards in every province. Every division has a BISE board. Besides there’s a Federal board. The federal government gives a broad outline of syllabus. The provinces publish books according to this syllabus outline. So they are teaching approximately the same things. The divisional boards within one province follow the same books. In the past every divisional board used to administer it’s own test. Then they chaged it to a common test that was administered in the whole province simeltaneously. I don’t know if they are continuing with this or they have gone back to divisonal level papers. By and large the students in every province study the same material.
The admission tests that we’re talking about right now are conducted specifically for admission to medical and engineering universities within one province. I don’t exactly know which authority is setting papers these days. But the paper in province will generally not be the same as the one in the other province despite the fact that they are set from very similar material. I’m against only one central authority calling the shots. HSE boards may administer same tests even around the country if all provinces agree. But setting up UHS in punjab was myopic. Medical schools should have a degree of autonomy. But that’s another story.
I’m not familiar with the exact procedure of admission test these days. My knowledge is a little rusty now. But this is how it used to be until a couple of years ago. Maybe the students who have recently taken their FSc exams can tell you more about how things stand now.
Sounds like discrimination to me. But then we’re talking about Pakistan. Anything to keep those dirty dark sindhis low on the ladder of success, right? 