Late admission of 113 medical students raises academic concerns

PESHAWAR: The late admission of 113 students from erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan into first-year MBBS/BDS programmes in public-sector medical and dental colleges of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has triggered questions over how they will complete the prescribed academic requirements, with only around two weeks left before the regular first-year curriculum is scheduled to conclude.

The students, nominated under the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) project for providing higher-education opportunities to students of Balochistan and erstwhile FATA, have been placed in colleges at a time when the 2025-26 academic session is already nearing completion.

According to official correspondence available with The News, HEC, on September 2, 2026, directed Khyber Medical University (KMU) to ensure the admission/placement of the 113 nominated scholars on a priority basis.

The HEC letter followed a meeting held on September 1, chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal and attended by senior officials, including the HEC executive director, PM&DC president and the KMU vice chancellor.

The letter asked KMU to complete the admission and placement process “in a timely manner” to avoid any further delay in the best interest of the students.Acting on the HEC directions, KMU, on September 3, wrote to all deans/principals of public-sector medical and dental colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, asking them to admit the nominated candidates against the reserved seats for first-year MBBS/BDS, session 2025-26, after completion of the required documentation.

The KMU letter itself acknowledged that the decision was an “extraordinary measure” and that the university was aware that the academic session was already close to its end.However, senior medical teachers and educationists have questioned whether the academic requirements of a full first-year MBBS programme can realistically be completed by students who are entering the colleges at the very end of the session.

An academic source told The News that the issue was not simply one of delivering additional lectures but of ensuring that the newly admitted students received the same academic exposure, practical training, assessment and attendance opportunities as the rest of the 2025-26 batch.

According to the source, the first-year MBBS programme is spread over approximately 32 weeks, while the newly placed students have only around two weeks remaining before the scheduled completion of the academic session. “The question is how students who have not attended the regular academic programme for most of the year can acquire the required knowledge and practical skills in only two weeks,” the source questioned.

Another question concerns attendance. Under the applicable medical education requirements, students are required to maintain the prescribed attendance, with 75 per cent attendance being cited by faculty members as a mandatory requirement for academic progression.Teachers have, therefore, questioned how the newly admitted students can fulfil the required attendance when they have joined the colleges only weeks before completion of the academic session.