By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Sept. 14: Rohit Shah, a student preparing for Bachelors of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) entrance exam, lost his concentration in study after the Supreme Court (SC) postponed the entrance examination just a day before the scheduled examination.
“I could not concentrate on my study after the examination was postponed for an indefinite period.” Shah said.
Now, Shah has been spending his days participating at a protest programme of MBBS students. As he has been participating at protest with a hope of getting 75 per cent scholarship in MBBS education, he is not sure he could perform to his best of ability in the entrance examination.
Junu Ghalan Tamang, another student preparing entrance examination, consoled herself citing that the postponement of exam is a common event in the country. “Though we have been compelled to wait few more days for entrance examination, we hope that the decision will come in favour of students. And we will get 75 per cent scholarship in medical education from this year” she said.
Rohit and Junu are only two representatives among the 19,000 students preparing for entrance examination. All of them are in a dilemma about the examination. And they also have to deal with the time and mood lost for the examination preparation after the SC on September 7 stayed the Institute of Medicine’s MBBS entrance exam scheduled for September 8.
As a result, many of them have been participating at the protest demanding 75 per cent scholarship to them and a common entrance for all universities. The agitating students also filed a case with a demand to cancel the entrance examination of Kathmandu University and BP Koirala Institute of Health Science (BPKIHS) and conduct the examination through one -door system.
Stakeholders of MBBS education have been confronting difficulty for the past several years when protests are held before the entrance examination. Protest of students’ unions just before the entrance examination seems only to serve political interest, Amrit Khanal, NAME institute’s exam coordinator said.
Though the demands of the agitating students are genuine, holding protests just before the entrance examination is not good, he added.
The SC had issued an order asking the authority not to hold entrance examination. It has set the final hearing on the case for coming Sunday.
The Parliament had endorsed the National Medical Education Act six months ago that mentions to provide 75 per cent scholarship in medical education. But, the provision could not be implemented owing to absence of officials at Medical Education Commission for long. However, the cabinet appointed Prof. Dr. Shree Krishna Giri, as vice- chairperson of the commission, on Thursday.
The Act has provisioned the MEC for the overall management and supervision of the medical education sector, including fee fixation, monitoring, granting affiliation to new medical colleges and even annulment of the colleges if they are found violating the rules.
Minister for Education Science and Technology, Giriraj Mani Pokharel had assured a few days ago through a press statement that the government was ready to provide 75 per cent scholarship in medical education from this year. However, students studying in different medical colleges have demanded that the colleges should return some portion of exorbitant fees charges from them.
The Cabinet has fixed Rs. 3,850,000 as maximum fees for MBBS courses in the Kathmandu Valley-based medical institutions and Rs. 4,245,000 for the colleges outside the valley.
Likewise, Rs. 1,932,000 was fixed for the Bachelor of Dental Study courses. .However, majority of the medical colleges have been charging more than Rs 6.5 million from each student.