37% of MBBS students in Bihar fail 1st varsity exam
PATNA: Around 37% of firstyear MBBS students of nine medical colleges in Bihar have failed their first university examinations conducted during the coronavirus pandemic, the results for which were declared on August 30, according to officials at the Aryabhatta Knowledge University (AKU), under which their colleges function.
These students of 2019 batch staged a protest on Wednesday on the office campus of the university in Patna, demanding that they be promoted on the basis of their internal marks.
“Around 37% of students have failed the exam,” said AKU controller of examinations Rajeev Ranjan. This is the worst performance by students since the inception of the AKU in 2010, university officials said.
“A delegation of students met AKU vice-chancellor Prof Surendra Pratap Singh, demanding that the failed students be promoted on the basis of their internal marks. Since the National Medical Commission (NMC) does not allow it, we asked them to appear for the second (supplementary) exam that begins from September 27,” said Ranjan.
Around 250 students from the Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH), Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH), both in Patna, Bhagalpur’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital (JLNMCH), Gaya’s Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College Hospital (ANMMCH), Muzaffarpur’s Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital (SKMCH), and the Vardhaman
Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) at Pawapuri, gathered on the AKU to press for their demands.
“We are seeking re-evaluation of answer sheets because some of us who topped the college tests have failed the university exam. The AKU has not heeded our request either for re-evaluation or re-totalling of marks,” said an aggrieved students who did not wish to be identified.
“Our classes were conducted online and exams held offline. Not to speak of the quality of teaching through online mode during the pandemic, the AKU changed the pattern of exams at the eleventh hour. We had to attempt 18-20 questions this time, instead of six earlier. The number of multiple choice questions was also less this time as compared to the previous exams. Against this backdrop, the marking has been very stringent,” said one of the students.
The AKU controller of exams, however, disputed their contention. “Mixing and scanning of answer sheets is computerised. Name and roll code of students is removed and only answer sheets containing barcode are
sent to the examiner. We leave no scope of any bias, which may otherwise reflect in the examiner,” said Ranjan.
He said there was no scope in the AKU statute for re-evaluation of a single or a handful of answer sheets.
“If at all re-evaluation has to be done, it will for the whole batch. Already 63% students have passed the exam,” said Ranjan.
On Tuesday, the student body of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had also demanded re-evaluation of answer sheets.
In a letter to the Bihar governor, who is also chancellor of AKU, the IMA student body claimed that 38% (447 of 1,172) medicos across nine medical colleges in Bihar flunked the examination.
The said examination, the first university examination for the 2019 batch of MBBS students, was supposed to have been completed in December last year, but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and culminated on March 26, just before the peak of the second wave of coronavirus in Bihar. The AKU took five months to declare the results.