K.P.K ETEA entrance test postponed due to poor arrangements
PESHAWAR:16 July: Though there were complaints against the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA), the poor arrangements it had made for entrance test of applicants of medical and ?dental colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday exposed the body that kept parents and their children waiting for hours and ultimately postponed the test.
The applicants and their parents had come from remote areas of the province to their respective centres. They faced hardships and ?sheer disappointment when they were finally told the entrance test had been postponed after keeping them waiting for more than five hours.
The ETEA in collaboration with Khyber Medical University (KMU) every year organises entrance test for admissions in the public and private sector medical and dental colleges of the province, and the applicants always lodge lots of complaints against poor arrangements, but none of the governments have been able to take measures to facilitate the contenders in their written test.
This year the government in collaboration with ETEA and KMU had arranged ?more centres to facilitate the applicants of remote areas in their nearest places and reduce rush at one centre in Peshawar.
?Besides Islamia Collegiate School Ground Peshawar, centres were established in Haripur University, Grassy Ground in Saidu Sharif, Swat, Gomal Medical College new building Dera Ismail Khan, Abdul Wali Khan University Garden Campus close to Sheikh Maltoon town Mardan, Cadet College Kohat and Malakand University in Chakdarra,
Official sources told The News that most of the applicants, particularly females, had come a day earlier ?along with their parents and stayed in hotels to reach in time to the venue meant for entrance hall.
In some places like Peshawar, Haripur, Swat, Charsadda and Kohat, officials, applicants and their parents said the test was unnecessarily postponed.
In Charsadda, some of the applicants and their parents complained they had arrived a day earlier from Chitral and spent the night in hotels so that they could reach examination hall in time.
According to sources, the entrance test was postponed due to the poor arrangements made for the applicants in the Abdul Wali Khan University Garden Campus in Mardan.
Despite heavy rain coupled with storm, most of the applicants and their parents were standing at the main entrance to the Abdul Wali Khan University by 7am, almost an hour before the entrance test scheduled at 8am.
The university security guards, according to the applicants, didn’t allow them to enter the campus and thus all of them including females suffered in heavy rain in an open area.
“The university security guard ?didn’t allow us to enter the university and told us that the entrance test had postponed. Some of the applicants and their parents returned home while we decided to wait there,” said one of the applicants on condition of anonymity, fearing that the authorities might take punitive action against him if his identity was disclosed.
He said finally when they were allowed to the university campus, all the tents installed there for the applicants were lying on the ground and the area where they were supposed to attempt the exam was full of rainwater.
“We kept asking everybody if the test was postponed but there was no responsible person to answer, except the security guards who asked us to return home as the test has been cancelled,” said the applicant.
He said it was around 9:30am when someone appeared and asked the applicants to wait there as they would start the entrance test at 11:30am.
“Those went homes were informed by their colleagues and relatives and they rushed to the university, some of them were brought by their parents and some came in taxis from villages as they were afraid not to miss the test,” said the applicant.
A university professor was among these victims. He had brought his daughter ?to the examination centre in Mardan and was informed that test has been cancelled.
He left for home and was informed in the halfway to return.
When came to the university, there was no authorised person to share with him and other parents the accurate information about the entrance test.
The parents and the applicants had to call their near and dear ones in Peshawar.
And finally after keeping them in tension, the applicants and their parents were informed that the test had been postponed.
An official on condition of anonymity said they were trying to conduct the text at any cost but the contractor who made arrangements in Mardan had disappeared.
In Peshawar and other ?places, the applicants were kept in waiting for hours in their respective centers and were told that the test would begin soon and they would be issued papers.
The candidates who had been allowed into the Islamia Collegiate Ground were asked to leave the venue after announcement of the postponement. The girl candidates had to wait on the footpaths on the main University road as the administration had advised their parents to drop and pick their wards instead of waiting there along with vehicles that caused rush. Their ordeal ended when parents came there after 12 noon and picked them up.
According to applicants, each one of them had paid Rs1600 ?to ETEA a few months ago as fee for the test.
?Around 38057 applicants, including 23459 male and 14598 female students were supposed to appear in the entrance test.
The amount collected from the candidates is around Rs60, 891,200.
Interestingly, the test for medical and dental colleges is conducted at a time when results of intermediate examinations are yet to be announced.
KMU issued a statement later that arrangements were made in seven centers but due to heavy rain and storm in Mardan centre all the arrangements including tents and chairs have been badly disturbed and even fallen to the ground.
KMU spokesman Alamgir Khan Afridi said rainwater entered the test venue which disturbed all the arrangements.
He said the administration and contractor tried to re-establish the test venue but due to continuous rain and muddy condition of ground it was impossible to make the arrangements.
The coordination committee decided that the test should be postponed till further decision, he added.
Alamgir Khan said new date would be announced soon after approval of the competent authority and it would be communicated to the candidates through the print and electronic media.The news.
