Supreme Court Nullifies Verdict on Article 63-A Defection Clause
Education Minister announces its decision on MDCAT
Islamabad, 18 June: To confirm the admission of FSc (Pre-medical) and A2 Cambridge students in public and private medical universities of Pakistan, a joint high-level meeting was held under the co-chair of Federal Education Minister, Shafqat Mahmood, and SAPM on Health, Dr. Faisal Sultan.
Given the confusion caused in the academic year and exams due to COVID-19, the meeting discussed several options to save the academic year of A2 and F.Sc. Pre-medical students and ensure their timely admission to public and private medical universities across the country.
PMC informed the Minister that as per the PMC Undergraduate Education (Admissions, Curriculum, and Conduct) rule 2021, all students who wish to seek admission in medical and dental colleges can take the MDCAT examination, even if they have not yet taken their FSc pre-medical or A-Level exams.
MDCAT exam will be managed from 30th August to 30th September 2021. All students who are taking their A-Level exams in October can take the MDCAT exam in September and also apply for admissions to medical colleges before their exams are held.
Admissions have to be completed in medical and dental colleges by 15th January 2022 as per PMC Regulations. It was accepted that to accommodate students taking their A-Level exams in October and await results in January 2022, each medical and dental colleges and universities will be directed to not finalize the admission on seats equal to the candidate who have taken their A-Levels in October and are awaiting their results and the admission on these seats will be finalized after the results are available in January 2022.
For this motive, PMC will permit colleges to finalize admission on these particular category seats by 10th February 2022.
Vice President PMC also requested the Federal Minister for Education and SAPM Health to consider the issue of using only elective subject results this year for merit creation in public colleges, given the F.Sc. exams being held for elective subjects only. PMC is already considering a scheme on these lines for private colleges.
Both reasons that the necessary government is focused to address the education crisis due to COVID-19 and no stone will be left upright to provide the students a fair chance for their career path.
It was also agreed that the Ministry of Federal Education would closely arrange with provincial governments for the smooth execution of these plans.