Poor PMET ranks belie govt claims

Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 24

The Punjab Education Department is patting itself on the back for the ‘success’ of 56 students of state-run meritorious schools in the Pre-Medical Entrance Test (PMET) — ignoring the fact that most of them have no chance of getting a seat in the state’s government medical or dental colleges.

There are about 1,300 MBBS and BDS seats in Punjab’s colleges in the state quota, for which the minimum fee is charged. Among these students, who belong to economically weaker sections, only one (ranked 1,012th) figures in the top 2,000, while there are six in the 2,001-3,000 bracket.

The department has even included the names of 14 students with 7,000-plus ranks. About 14,000 candidates had appeared in the PMET.

Education Minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Major Gen KAS Bhullar (retd), Project Director for meritorious schools, said, “The list includes the names of all candidates who have been shown as qualified by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences. This means that they are eligible to attend the counselling.”