Sun, 22 Dec, 2024

Three Days Before International Anti-Corruption Day

By Dipesh Poudel

Three days before the International Anti-Corruption Day (International Anti-Corruption Day is observed annually on 9th December), that is on 6th December, a news caught everyone's attention. It was the news of leaking of question paper of the scholarship exam conducted by MOE (Ministry of Education) for the MBBS program. MOE conducts scholarship exams every year to provide scholarships for MBBS and various other programs. The scholarship is provided on the basis of marks secured by students in the scholarship exam. MOE annually has 220 to 230 seats available for scholarship and the seats provided by foregin colleges also add up to the total available seat. The students selected are sent to different Kathmandu University and Tribhuvan University affiliated colleges. It is only fair that the students who really deserve this scholarship get the seats. But when money comes in play things do not tend to go fairly. On 6th December CIAA (Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority) arrested the Director of Golden Gate International College, Deviram Pandey, and mediator, Dr. Prabhat Kumar Kushawaha, after getting caught red handed selling the MOE MBBS scholarship exam question papers to the students. Golden Gate International College was one of  the centers for the scholarship exam. The CIAA has also taken Golden Gate International College teacher, Harihar Sapkota, into custody for his involvement in the crime. Further, the anti-corruption body mentioned in its release that an alleged intermediary, Maheshwar Prasad Yadav, involved in collecting money from MBBS scholarship aspirants, was also arrested. The CIAA has not disclosed the identity of  the other three who they took into custody. It seems like some big names will be seen behind the bars for their involvement in this crime. MOE has rescheduled the exam for 13th December. Incidents like this play with the lives of deserving students. Theses kind of activities should be stopped and the culprits should receive severe punishments.