It has been a little over three months now since the classes for first year Diploma in Pharmacy (D. Pharma) students were completed, and students were given study holidays for their annual examinations. For reasons not completely clear, the examinations, which were supposed to take place by the end of October or the beginning of November, have been postponed multiple times now, leaving the students worried.
D.Pharma is a two-year course which provides students the required qualification for practicing the profession of pharmacy, under the Pharmacy Act, 1948. In Karnataka, the exams are conducted by Karnataka State Pharmacy Council (KSPC), a statutory body constituted under the Act.
“Technically, the syllabus for the first year of the course is supposed to be completed in eight to nine months and then the exams should be over within a year. However, for us, it has been well over one year now since classes began and there is still no confirmation about exams. They have said that it will take place in January, but even that is a tentative timetable,” said a student from Vivekananda College of Pharmacy in Rajajinagar.
The students of the course are concerned that this uncertainty could also alter their plans for the future. “If the exams keep getting postponed, then it will take me around three years to finish the course and that was not the timeline I had in mind when I took it up. I have heard that the exam, which is now tentatively scheduled for January 2, will also be postponed,” said a student from Acharya and BM Reddy College of Pharmacy in Soladevanahalli. He added, “We have tried to contact the KSPC multiple times, but they have not responded. Of late, the calls are not even connecting. We do not know whom to approach.”
When The Hindu contacted officials from KSPC, they mentioned that financial constraints and administrative hurdles had delayed the examinations. “We did not have the budget to conduct the exams all this while. The transfer of the previous member secretary was also one of the reasons. Now, a new member secretary has taken charge, and the exams will surely take place in January,” said an official, who did not want to be named.
