Bangladeshi government officially approached over student registration issue

Maldivian government reports it has officially reached out to Bangladeshi government over the issue of students at University of Science and Technology of Chittagong in Bangladesh – among them 28 Maldivian medical students – being denied registration with Bangladesh Medicine and Dental Council.

All medical students studying in Bangladesh need to be registered with BMDC. And it is the usual procedure that medical students are registered with BMDC by the university they are studying in.

However, two batches of about 1,000 students – including 28 Maldivian students - at USTC remain unregistered after the university granted admission for students over the set limit.

In addition to the 28 Maldivian students, the students denied registration include students from other South East Asian countries including India, Nepal and Bhutan.

Students have gathered at the USTC and have been protesting since last Monday, January 9.

The students have their finals due on January 23, but they demand to be registered if USTC wants to hold any classes or exams.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Maldives issued a statement this Sunday in which it said the plight of the students had come to the attention of Maldivian government, and that it was working on resolving the issue.

Foreign Ministry said it has officially reached out to Bangladeshi government over the issue.

And that Maldivian embassy in Bangladesh has asked USTC to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

“Maldivian embassy has provided assurance it will talk to the students and that the government will do everything possible to resolve the issue,” read the statement issued by Foreign Ministry.

Students are protesting that the time and many they spent on the course will go to waste if they aren’t registered with BMDC.

“There’s no use in sitting the exams without getting registered. We can’t practice medicine anywhere. Can’t even do an internship,” said a Maldivian medical student from USTC who spoke to “Sun”.

Meanwhile, the Indian government has also approached the Bangladeshi government. And the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh is discussing with USTC and BMDC to resolve the issue.