Medical admission results for 193 students passed under the Freedom Fighter quota put on hold

The medical admission results for 193 students who passed under the Freedom Fighter quota have been put on hold. 

The verification process for these students will continue until January 29, and only after that will the admission procedure move forward, said Professor Dr. Nazmul Hossain, the Director-General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). 

This update was shared by Dr. Hossain in a press briefing on Monday afternoon. 

He also clarified that the final decision regarding the continuation of the quota rests with the Ministry of Public Administration.

Earlier today, a group of students gathered at Shaheed Minar for a protest rally, demanding that the medical exam results be canceled by today. 

They also called for the Freedom Fighter quota to be abolished and new results to be published.

The protests didn’t start today, though. 

Just the night before, on Sunday, students from Dhaka Medical College (DMCH) marched from Milon Chattar to Shaheed Minar, joined by their peers from BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology).

Speaking at Shaheed Minar, the students expressed their frustration, claiming that the quota system is an attempt to bring back the political ideologies of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Sheikh Hasina. 

They emphasized that the quota system is still embedded in many aspects of the country. 

The students further stressed that this outdated system should be abolished immediately.

They also pointed out the irony that the same quota system, which cost so many lives to establish, has been reinstated. 

The students demanded answers from the current government and urged the cancellation of the existing results, suggesting that new results should be based strictly on merit.

Currently, the Freedom Fighter quota reserves 5% of medical seats for the children of freedom fighters, 2% for hill communities, and 1% for indigenous people. 

The results of the recent medical entrance exam were published on Sunday, reflecting these quotas.

This year, a total of 135,665 students applied for the MBBS entrance exam, with 131,729 sitting for the test. 

Of these, 60,095 candidates passed, with the passing score set at 40.

According to these numbers, the pass rate for this year’s MBBS exam stands at 45.62%. 

Among the successful candidates, 37,936 are female, which makes up 63.13% of the total successful students, while 22,159 are male, representing 36.87%.

The highest score achieved in the exam this year was 90.75, as stated in the official notice.