THIS is with reference to the report ‘Doubts about fairness as over 160,000 appear in MDCAT’ (Sept 23). The story of corruption and mismanagement in the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) has remained unchanged. Decades ago, my wife attempted her medical entrance test. Though selected, she was offered admission to a university far from her hometown. The only doctor in our family advised her father to forgo the seat, hoping for a better opportunity. That moment sealed her fate; she became a housewife, and has since dedicated herself to the role of a homemaker.

This year, our daughter, a bright student who excelled in every academic challenge, sat the MDCAT. She had chosen the path as soon as she entered 9th grade.

To achieve her goal, over the next four years, she kept her focus alive. She covered every syllabus available in Pakistan, watched every YouTube lecture, and created and revised notes multiple times. Coaching centres demanded exorbitant fee, which we paid so that she could prepare well for the test.

After years of preparation, she faced the test recently (Sept 22) over which, as per the report cited above, ‘doubts about fairness’ have persisted. The whole exercise was a mess.

When we arrived at the venue in Jamshoro, the university administration forced all the parents to park their vehicles at the university gate, and walk several kilometres to the exam hall. Once there, we saw there was no hall; the students were to sit the test in poorly ventilated tents; a test that was three-and-a-half-hour long, and demanded focus as it was a make-or-break exam. Despite charging a rather steep registration fee, the adm-inistration showed no concern for the stu-dents or the parents who had accompanied them to the venue.

I ‘settled’ under the shade of a single tree hosting more than 40 people from multiple backgrounds. There were mos-quitoes and flies buzzing around, and beggars and street vendors were competing for everyone’s attention. It was chaotic.

Sitting there, I thought of the chances our daughter had of clearing the MDCAT hurdle. I personally knew some people who had managed to get hold of the exam paper ahead of the schedule. Their children were naturally able to ‘prepare’ overnight.

This one-night preparation was bound to be more appropriate than the four-year preparation of my daughter. I am certain that the ‘privileged’ children will be easily selected, while students like my daughter may well have to put up with their shat-tered dreams.

I really wonder why merit is sold out so blatantly in this country, why no one is ready to improve the crumbling exam system, why a university notorious for leaking exam papers is entrusted with this rather crucial responsibility year after year. It is all about corruption. Is it not?

Zaheer Uddin Babar Junejo
Hyderabad

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2024