Jaffna Medical College vacancies yet unfilled

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Jaffna university authorities have advised the Sri Lankan University Grants Commission (UGC) that a one point reduction in the cut off marks for admission would help fill the vacancies which still exist in the Jaffna medical college, despite the decision to enroll 13 Sinhala students.

There are 130 seats in the Jaffna university medical college for students who have qualified to follow a course in medicine for the MBBS degree.

Only sixty five Tamil students who qualified for medical studies at the General Certificate Exam (Advanced Level) applied for enrolment in the Jaffna medical college this year, leaving half the seats available here vacant.

The government invited Sinhala students who have qualified to follow a university course in medicine to join the Jaffna medical college. But only thirteen Sinhalese applied.

Hence to fill the remaining vacancies, the Jaffna university has suggested to the UGC there should be another reduction in the cut off marks for university admission by one point said academic sources in the peninsula.

The shortfall in the intake to the Jaffna medical college is mainly due to the unwillingness on the part of Tamil students in other parts of the country to study in Jaffna.

Travelling to Jaffna became very expensive after Sri Lankan government troops took the peninsula in 1996. It is now accessible mainly by air.

The land route is closed and going by sea is precarious. Air travel to Jaffna involves a host of obstacles the chief of which is clearance from the Ministry of Defence.

And students from the Vanni and the east have to face many security problems, in coming to Colombo where they have to catch their flight to Jaffna.

Under these circumstances very few students are willing now to enrol for studies in the University of Jaffna.

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