An unusual academic case has surfaced at BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, where an MBBS student admitted in 2014 has remained in the first year for 11 years. According to India Today, the student failed his first attempt and skipped re-exams despite counselling and support. The case highlights gaps in oversight, as current NMC rules were not applicable to the 2014 batch.

An incredible academic aberration has come out of the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, an MBBS student has not gone beyond his first year for over 11 years, raising serious questions of academic oversight and institutional accountability. The student, who was admitted in 2014 under the SC quota, has not progressed beyond the first year despite the MBBS standard programme being designed to be completed in about 5½ years.

According to the India Today report, the student appeared only once for the first-year MBBS examination, failed all subjects, and thereafter consistently avoided both re-examinations and academic engagement. Despite repeated counselling sessions, offers of special coaching by faculty, and periodic reminders from the hostel warden about his long stay and lack of progress, the student reportedly showed minimal interest in advancing his studies.

The student, a native of Azamgarh, has also been occupying a hostel room for the past decade at the cost of inconvenience to other students and several complaints to the college administration. Peers have fondly named him “Daroga” due to his father's occupation as a police sub-inspector.

As per the India Today report, college authorities concede the anomaly in this situation. BRD Medical College Principal Dr. Ramkumar said that the matter was brought to his notice recently, and that the academic committee would go through the case before writing to National Medical Commission (NMC) for further guidance on how to deal with it.

According to current NMC regulations, MBBS students are supposed to clear the first year within four attempts and the entire course within nine years, both criteria being way overshot in this case. But the student belongs to the 2014 batch when different rules governed medical education, thereby miring the case in regulatory ambiguity.