E-Paper
Between ‘leak’ and ‘downpour’, they lost a year and more
Kanchan Suryavanshi of Sagar was very enthusiastic about the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT). After attending coaching classes in Rajasthan’s Kota and studying for hours daily, she was well prepared to crack the test — at least, that’s what she thought. Destiny and weather had different plans, however.
Kanchan Suryavanshi of Sagar was very enthusiastic about the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT). After attending coaching classes in Rajasthan’s Kota and studying for hours daily, she was well prepared to crack the test — at least, that’s what she thought. Destiny and weather had different plans, however.
She appeared for the AIPMT on May 3, but it was scrapped by the Supreme Court, following reports of the question paper getting leaked. She was sad and angry, but still looked forward to the retest on July 25.
She came to Bhopal to sit for the retest. But on Saturday, rain snatched that chance from her, as she reached the exam centre three minutes late and was denied entry. She kept weeping in front of the gate amid rain for two hours, hoping someone would do something.
“First it was paper leak — a failure of the system. Second time it was traffic disruptions due to heavy rain because of which I couldn’t appear in the AIPMT. In both cases, it was not my mistake. I have worked very hard. My family spent over a lakh rupees for my coaching,” she told HT over phone from Sagar.
“A year has been wasted. Now I have come again to Sagar, my home. I am again preparing, but I feel so depressed. I have lost faith in the system,” she added.
Like Kanchan there are a large number of other AIPMT aspirants who failed to reach their exam centres on time in Bhopal due to heavy rainfall on Saturday. Most of such candidates, hailing primarily from other districts of the state, have now returned home, dejected and depressed. A few of them have even decided not to sit for the AIPMT again.
“This was my third attempt. I am already studying in second year. But now I have decided I will not try again. As the Vyapam scam shows, it is futile to work hard these days and expect that the system works transparently and you might have a chance to crack the medical test,” said Swati Pandey from New Bhopal.
Pratibha Taiwade from Betul feels betrayed. She had attending coaching classes for AIPMT for the past two years, both in Class 11 and Class 12. “On Saturday, while I was in tears in front of the gate, I had hoped we might be given a chance. But now, I know there is no chance. Our one year has been wasted for no fault on our part. I have again come to Betul. It is painful that all my hard work has been wasted,” she said.
Kapil Tanwani from Bhopal’s Lal Ghati area feels lost. “One year of hard work has been wasted just because I was few minutes late. I have already taken admission in BSc (X-ray). I don’t know whether I will appear for the test next year. One year is a long time,” he said.
Over 8,500 candidates appeared for the retest in Bhopal’s 18 centres on Saturday.
The same day, when HT questioned Sanyam Bhardwaj, joint secretary and official on special duty (OSD) at CBSE’s AIPMT unit in Delhi, he said that AIPMT being a pan-India competitive test, they can’t do anything about the students who failed to reach the centres on time.
