Nigerian Association of Dental Students (NADS) has called on the management of University of Calabar (UNICAL) to withdraw its directive asking over 300 dental students to transfer to other schools due to the current admission crisis.

The association’s President, University of Benin, Victory Ochuwa, made the call yesterday in Benin in a statement while reacting to the decision of UNICAL to send their dental students away.

The statement dated July 11 described the decision as “inhuman” and “totally unacceptable,” stressing that it would ruin the future of the affected students.

NADS condemned the university’s decision to offer admission to students and then ask them to leave after four to six years of training.

It said the students should not bear the consequences of the institution’s administrative failures where it claimed the number of students had overweighed the facilities.

The association expressed concern about the impact on final year students, who had spent seven to eight years in training, to be asked to quit the school and go and learn a trade.

NADS demanded that UNICAL should suspend the directive asking students to transfer or abandon their dental education, stressing that reversal of the decision would help to ease tension already piling up in the institution.

It called on relevant bodies, including Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Nigerian Dental Association (NDA) and Federal Ministries of Health and Education to intervene and ensure justice and compassion guided the way forward for the affected students.

At press time, UNICAL authority was yet to come up with any statement regarding the issue.