Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) 2023 has been embroiled in major controversy involving cheating in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh. The test is mandatory for admission in disciplines of medicine and dentistry.
Sindh
A retest was conducted on Sunday, November 19, across four centres in Sindh as the previous one was cancelled due to overwhelming complaints of cheating. Almost 41,000 students appeared for a total of 4,790 seats — 3,600 for MBBS and 1,190 for dental studies. As per the reports, answer sheets are circulating on social media, fueling speculation that the exam paper was leaked.
MDCAT-Exam-2023
— Abdul hafeez (@ASGFSFF) November 19, 2023
Once again paper leaked.
After MDCAT EXAM students confirmed these were same questions in paper.
So here it is again.Dow University to conduct an inquiry into the paper circulating on social media. pic.twitter.com/4zNj5dMLRd
This raised questions over the feasibility of leaking the entire paper through social media, given the ban on phones and smart watches at test centres. Additionally, students have expressed dissatisfaction with the test’s content, citing questions beyond the prescribed syllabus and errors in the answer keys, reports The News.
In a recent statement, President PMDC Dr Rizwan Taj has acknowledged social media reports alleging the leak of MDCAT paper conducted under the supervision of DOW University of Health Sciences (DUHS). He asserted that both the managing authorities-DUHS vice-chancellor and Sindh Chief Secretary-have denied the allegations, saying the news is not correct and question papers were released by students post-test at 4pm as the test had ended at 2pm.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
After the cancellation of the September 10 test in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the exam is to be reconducted on November 26. A plan has been devised according to which police will be deployed to provide security to the staff involved in in transportation of test material to all centres in the designated cities, including Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Mardan, Dir Lower, Swat and Abbottabad. A total of 46,220 candidates will appear in test.
To ensure transparency police will be also be involved during printing, packaging, transportation and scanning of examination material inside and outside Khyber Medical University Peshawar from 20 November to 30.
Section 144 will be imposed around the centres, mobile phone will remain jammed, power supply will remain uninterrupted from 9am to 3pm on date of test are also part of the plan, says the report by Dawn.
