M A I N   N E W S

Admit cards without photos!
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 27
In this era when scams and jobs-for-money have shattered the confidence of people in bodies conducting examinations, Punjab is going to conduct its annual pre- medical entrance test (PMT) — which will decide the future of thousands of students — without even taking a photo of the candidate before the examination.

So a candidate will be armed with an admit card without a photo while taking the written examination. Invigilators on duty will have no way to check the authenticity of a student appearing in the exam. The written test carries 800 marks and is the core examination for getting a seat in one of the medical streams of study. It is this exam, scheduled for July 21, which will decide the merit list. With thousands of students applying the limited few seats, the higher one figures in the merit list the better.

As per the prospectus of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences which is conducting the test: to appear in the PMT, a student is required to send in a sheet of information about himself/herself on a printed application form called the OMR form. This red-coloured form will be read by computer scanner feeding in all details of the candidate into the computer excepting the photograph. It is impossible to fathom why there will be no photo of the candidate on the admit card when even basic exams like those for BA conducted by any university carries a photo of the candidate to curb personation. With no photo the examination centre is open to everyone and just anyone. The Principal Secretary, Medical Education and Research, Mrs Satwant Reddy when asked if the government should intervene and get it corrected said: ‘‘We will do something about it’’.

The PMT will decide the future of students wanting to take admissions to MBBS, BDS, ayurvedic, homoeopathic and physiotherapy courses conducted in the state. Sources said the system of having a photo on the admit card of candidates was discontinued last year. Actually the prospectus says ‘‘no documents are to be submitted with the OMR application form for PMET-2002 except the bank demand draft’’. Pages 47 and 48 of the prospectus are devoted to instructions of how the OMR form has to be filled up. A senior official whose child is appearing in the examination said ‘‘this was shocking.’’

The prospectus has another green-coloured form called the ‘‘application form for admission’’. This will bear the candidate’s photograph but will be required after the written test is conducted when students will come in for counselling. Sources said Baba Farid University’s plan is to ask candidates to bring along a photo while coming to take the test. This will be attested on the spot by the superintendent on duty and pasted on the admit card. Well the prospectus says nothing about it. The university will probably issue an advertisement, said the source.

If all this was not enough the glossy prospectus costing Rs 500 has all details expecting when is the last date of submission of the form! The last date for submission of forms has been communicated through an advertisement in newspapers.