Protests on

Medical admission seekers and their guardians scuffled with the police at Dhaka Medical College, trying to stop the admission process that began yesterday. 

A similar incident took place in front of Mymensingh Medical College when law enforcers drove off protesters trying to hamper the admission process.

Yesterday was the 11th day of the demonstrations for fresh medical and dental admission tests. The protests arose from alleged leak of the question papers. 

Meanwhile, the authorities have ruled out any possibility of fresh exams and explained reasons behind the decision.

Around 10:00am, some 100 students and their guardians gathered in front of the Central Shaheed Minar and staged a sit-in, said Tariqul Islam, one of the protesters.

From there, they entered the DMC around noon. As they took position in front of the principal's office, police moved to disperse them and a scuffle broke out.

"Police kicked and baton-charged us when we declined to get up from there," said medical aspirant Sanjida Islam.

At least eight demonstrators, including her, suffered minor injuries in the scuffle that took place around 12:45pm.

Ibrahim Khan, additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Ramna division), told The Daily Star that police had dispersed the demonstrators so that the admission process could continue smoothly.

Police did not charge batons on the protesters and there was no misconduct on their side, he said. 

“We urged them [students] to submit a memorandum to the authorities concerned,” said ADC Ibrahim, but they defied the police request.

Wafi Islam who passed HSC examinations from Munshi Abdur Rouf Rifles College, Dhaka, and seeks to get enrolled into a government medical college, alleged that the admission process at the DMC was supposed to start on October 4 but it began yesterday.

DMC Principal Prof Md Ismail Khan said over the phone that the college received a circular on September 20 from the Department of Medical Education and Health Care Human Resource Development, which clearly set the admission time from September 29 to October 17.

The circular is also available on the website of the Directorate General of Health Services.

The protestors went back to the Shaheed Minar around 2:00pm and held a press briefing, where they announced a protest rally and a procession for today. 

On behalf of the demonstrators, Ishrat Jahan Simi who passed HSC exams from Motijheel Ideal School and College urged admission seekers across the country to come to the capital to intensify the movement. 

"If a fresh admission test is held without any question paper leak and my daughter does not get selected, I would accept the results," said Papon Paul, father of Priyanti Paul from Comilla Victoria College.

Other guardians present there echoed his view. 

However, a press release issued by the Department of Medical Education and Health Care Human Resource Development yesterday stated that 98.79 % students selected for the 2015-2016 academic session of MBBS and BDS had achieved GPA 9.5 and above in their secondary and higher secondary certificate examinations.

No question papers were found with those arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion over allegations of leaking question papers of the MBBS/BDS admission tests held on September 18, it said.

"No one brought allegations of question paper leak until the admission tests were over," the press release said, adding no such allegation had been brought even to any of the inspectors of the 23 test centres at the time of the exam.

On the exam day, a University Grants Commission official was arrested and suspended on allegations of question leak. Besides, Rab detained seven people, including three doctors, in Rangpur city on suspicion of involvement in “question leak”.

Around 83,000 students participated in the tests against 11,049 seats in 39 public and 98 private medical and dental colleges.

A section of the students who seek to secure a place in any of the government medical colleges began to demonstrate on September 19, demanding a fresh test. 

Two left-leaning student bodies, Chhatra Union and Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, yesterday condemned police attack on the demonstrators. They also urged the government to accept the demand of the agitating students.