Professor busts mass-bunking across Maharashtra's medical colleges

Thousands of secondyear first term medical students from colleges across the state have come under the scanner over disciplinary issues The students allegedly massbunked to go on leisure trips under the guise of participating in Pulse 2018 an annual sociocultural literary and sports fest organised by the students union of All India Institute of Medical Sciences AIIMS DelhiA highlyplaced faculty member said Nearly 100 secondyear studentsin the age group of 18 to 20 from each medical college went without taking any prior permission from their respective deans or teaching faculty And those who had actually got permission to participate in Pulse 2018 went on tours to Shimla Dehradun KulluManali etc insteadThe students had sought permission to attend the event from September 18 to October 3 When they were called out over the fact that the event was from September 16 to September 22 they had apologised and submitted a fresh letter requesting leave from September 16 to 23 However instead of resuming college from September 24 they all showed up directly on October 4Nearly 98 students from LTMG medical college bunkedGoing AWOLNearly 70 per cent students from the five major medical colleges mdash Grant 200 seats GSMC KEM 200 seats BYL Nair 150 seats HBT Cooper 150 and LTMG 150 seats mdash went on the trip Around 120 students from KEM 91 from Nair and 98 from LTMG were away Giving details about the students from other medical colleges in Maharashtra bunking the faculty member added Those inNanded Nagpur Yavatmal Nashik MirajSangli and other places too went away in similar numbers More than 100 students of BJ Medical College Pune took off after finishing Ganeshotsav festivitiesAll this came to light when a whistleblower professor from BYL Nair Medical College found discrepancies in the students explanations when they resumed college on October 4 and the college summoned their parentsAmong those who bunked several students were from JJ Hospitals Grant Medical College File PicsThe irony is that in some cases the parents too were aware of the trip Each student had taken Rs 19500 to Rs 25000 for the trip from their parents one of whom is a farmer who had somehow arranged for the money for his son studying in BYL Nair Medical College said another professor expressing shock at students unabashedly lying and taking the institution for grantedDr Ramesh Bharmal dean of Nairmedical college summoned parents of 72 students on October 6 and warned them of consequences if their children repeated such a stunt in futureAs a result of this the teaching faculty could not continue with their classes as the number of students in attendance was small But when students did not come to college after September 24 professors in some of the colleges held regular classes said a professorOne professor has already written an official letter to the vicechancellorMaharashtra University of Health Sciences MUHS Nashikhighlighting the issueDr Pravin ShingareBlown wide openThe whistleblower professor at Nair medical college was upset with the fact that even those who had been granted permission had disobeyed their respective deans instructions When asked why they did not resume college on the promised date the students gave evasive repliesAfter they produced their participation certificates from the event the professor became suspicious and made each student answer a questionnaire individually mdash about which sports they had participated in colour of their jersey names of teammates number of players and so on Crosschecking revealed serious lapses with no two students answers tallying He then asked them to get their parents to college Apologetic the parents then admitted that such behaviour was unacceptableDuring questioning some studentsconfessed that the day they had reached AIIMS theyd found out their events had gotten over the previous day and hence theyd then gone to the organisers for participation certificates which were handed over without any verification The students had then proceeded to their planned leisure tripThese are our future doctors who instead of being good academics are good at lying and cheating said the whistleblower professor requesting anonymitymidday reached out to a few parents most of whom were apprehensive about admitting their childrens mistake The doctor father of a Nair college student refused to comment saying he was busy examining patients in his OPDAnother parent however said I was shocked that our son lied to us We thought it was an official visit and compulsory to attend hence we did not question him when he asked for the money We are happy the college brought this to our notice and will be vigilant henceforthEvent organisers defenceHemant Jhajharia a student at AIIMS and one of the chief coordinators of Pulse 2018 said Its not unusual for outstation students to attend the event for a few days and then go on a tour to nearby places We have no role in thatInterestingly Jhajharia recalled receiving a phone call from a Nashik student enquiring about a 10day tour to Shimla Dehradun and KulluManali after the eventIt is unfortunate that medical students stooped to such a level We have clear instructions issued that if the number of students from a particular college is more than 10 they need to obtain a letter of permission or no objection from their dean And all payments from students are accepted only through demand draft said JhajhariaWe have no control over the students and their groups unless there are any disciplinary issues during their stay on the AIIMS campus he addedPulse planOrganisers of the AIIMS event said they are coming up with a set of corrective measures immediatelyCall for suggestions from registered membersstudents on the official portal httpswwwpulseaiimscom on how to overcome this menaceCertificate of participation to have security features including watermarks that cannot be duplicated and all certificates duly signed and stamped to be handed over physicallyInvitation letter to over 700 medical colleges across India and SAARC nations to include details of two additional security features on the certificates which participating students will not be told aboutSharing details of students participation with respective colleges on request from the college deanOFFICIALSPEAKDr Ramesh Bharmaldean Nair medical collegeIt is unfortunate that the students did this disciplinary action was initiated wherein we summoned their parents and made them submit an undertaking stating that they are aware such indiscipline wont be tolerated and a repeat offence would result in an official complaint being sent to the MUHSDr Dileep Mhaisekarprofessor MUHS NashikWe at the university level do not handle students attendance and permission issues for such events it is dealt with by the deans of respective colleges We may initiate appropriate action if the deans write to us and give us the names of students involved it might be considered during allotment of examination hall ticket for which attendance is crucialDr Pravin Shingaredirector DMER MaharashtraI am not aware of If such a thing has happened it is an act of indiscipline I will seek information from all medical college deans across the state and appropriate action will be taken against the studentsDr Hemant Dhusiaacademic dean LTMG collegeAs many as 98 secondyear students went for the event despite our dean giving permission only to those participating from September 17 to 22 We will surely take necessary disciplinary actionAlso ReadMMC to crack down on shirking students erring healthcare centresCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates