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Medical College Admission

Minister hopeful of ending crisis Plans to sit with students today

Staff Correspondent
Amid protests against the new rules for admission at medical and dental colleges, Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque will sit with the representatives of agitating students today at his secretariat office.
The students will meet the minister at 9:30am and the minister will brief the media about the meeting at 10:00am, Parikshit Chowdhury, public relations officer in the health ministry, told The Daily Star last night.
Earlier in the day at a Meet the Press programme, Ruhal said the government could not make a decision to resolve the issue as a case in this connection is sub-judice.
“The new admission procedure might be cancelled if they [protesters] discuss the issue [withdrawing the writ petition]," he told the programme hosted by Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU) at its auditorium.
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At a meeting chaired by the minister last month, the health ministry decided not to hold admission tests for enrolling students at medical and dental colleges from the 2012-13 academic sessions. Instead, it opted to admit students on the basis of their GPAs achieved in the SSC and HSC examinations.
The decision sparked protests among a group of admission seekers. They demanded the government restore the previous admissionsystem.
A guardian of an admission seeker filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the government's decision to introduce the new system.
Meanwhile, agitating students yesterday warned of waging a tougher movement if their demand is not met within the next 24 hours.
They gave the ultimatum at a rally in front of the Raju monument at Dhaka University. Around 200 admission seekers and their guardians joined the rally.
Addressing the meeting, protesters said they would welcome any move by the health minister to hold a discussion on the issue, but vowed not to retreat from their stance.
Expressing solidarity with the agitating students, eminent columnist Syed Abul Moksud and media personality Rokeya Prachy urged the government to change its decision.
In another development, a group of admission seekers at a press conference at the
DRU yesterday welcomed the government's decision and demanded its implementation.
At the Meet the Press event, the health minister said he has consulted legal experts, who have opined that the government has nothing to do with the matter at the moment as a case in this connection has been pending with the HC.
Asked about why the government suddenly decided to change the admission system, Ruhal said every year the health ministry officials sit for discussions ahead of the admission test. The officials this time around recommended scrapping the test.
Regarding the recent hike in prices of medicines, he said they have already discussed with the stakeholders to check the price hike.
DRU president Shakhawat Hossain Badsha and its general secretary Sajjad Alam Khan Topu were present, among others.