KATHMANDU: A parliamentary committee sitting at Singha Durbar on Wednesday discussed mistakes discovered in the results of the Medical Education Common Entrance Examinations (MECEE) for public health and medicine. The government was instructed to establish an inquiry committee to look into the errors and provide a report within ten days of the meeting, which was attended by several stakeholders as well as Minister for Education, Science, and Technology Bidya Bhattarai. Serious problems in the examination procedure were highlighted by the blunders, which included misassigning marks among pupils.
Experts in medical education criticized the ten-day timeframe, arguing it reflects a lack of urgency and previous similar issues with the MEC. Former IOM Dean Prof. Dr. Jagadish Prasad Agrawal noted that recurring problems in past exams indicate a systemic issue and insufficient oversight from top MEC officials. Minister Bhattarai acknowledged the mistake and committed to investigating further, though Member Secretary Krishna Prasad Kapri was hesitant to detail the meeting's conclusions.
A group of aspiring medical students protested at Maitighar on Wednesday, demanding transparency from the MEC. They called for the publication of the question set, answer key, and Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets, arguing that the lack of access to these materials prevents them from verifying their scores. The commission had previously announced plans to allow students to access their OMR sheets and answer keys on an individual basis but had not yet decided on releasing the question set.
A increasing amount of dissatisfaction with the MEC's handling of the exams is reflected in the protests and legislative concerns. Due to recurring problems with exams, students are speaking out against what they see as systematic corruption and poor management inside the commission.
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