ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis in Gulf countries are calling on the government to reinstate a college admission quota for overseas nationals who want to study medicine back home, with an association for parents of overseas Pakistanis saying thousands may lose their chance at education due to the new rule.

Children of overseas Pakistanis were previously able to enroll at 73 private and 44 public medical colleges in Pakistan based on admission quotas — 15 percent at private institutes and 76 seats at government-run ones.

But the government last year abolished the private school quota and reduced the one for public colleges to 66 spots, saying all candidates should be selected on merit. 

In the run up to the reduction being enforced from the current academic year 2021-22, the Overseas Pakistani Parents Association in Gulf, which represents expats in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, this week requested the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education to reverse its decision.

Citing the future of thousands of expat children and the contributions of overseas Pakistanis to the country's economy, the association, in a letter dated August 16, asked the parliamentary commission to help reintroduce the quota system.
 
"It is unfortunate the government is creating hurdles for our children instead of facilitating them in getting admissions in the private and public medical colleges," Muhammad Azam, a representative of the association in Al-Ain, UAE, told Arab News over the phone on Wednesday.

"We are contributing over 60 percent in annual remittances to Pakistan, but in return the government isn’t willing even to facilitate admissions to our children in the medical colleges."

Azam said the removal of quotas coupled with the coronavirus pandemic situation could upend the future of some 2,000 Pakistani students in the Gulf region — 800 in the UAE alone — as they may not even be able to participate in entrance exams.

The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), he said, had established only two exam centers, in Dubai and Riyadh.

"It will be difficult for students in Oman, Qatar and Bahrain to travel to Dubai or Riyadh for the tests given travel restrictions due to COVID-19 situation," Azam said.

Upon the association's complaints, Pakistan's consulate general in Dubai wrote to the education ministry earlier this week asking it to review its decision. While a response is still awaited from the ministry, the Pakistan Medical Commission, the relevant regulatory body, says reversing the decision would be against the constitution.

"The Supreme Court has declared the admission quota against the constitution in one of its judgments," PMC vice president Muhammad Ali Raza told Arab News, adding that the commission had already removed a discriminatory fee system under which overseas Pakistanis had to pay tuition in US dollars.

"We have abolished discrimination in fee structure for the overseas students as they will now be paying the same fee as the local students," he said. "Overseas students should compete with all other students to get in on merit."