Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala is yet to invite applications for holding the entrance test to the BSc Nursing programme even as other states, including Karnataka, have done so. The delay has put the students in a spot of bother.
The inordinate delay in Kerala is attributed primarily to indecision by the State Health Department on whether the test should be conducted by the LBS Centre For Science & Technology or by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE), Kerala.
The Health Department authorities in Kerala are now left with no other option but to decide between the LBS and the CEE to entrust with the task of conducting the test.
New system
Admissions to the BSc Nursing course in Kerala were carried out so far through the Thiruvananthapuram-based LBS Centre on the basis of marks secured by students. It was only recently the Indian Nursing Council (INC) ordered that entrance test is mandatory for conducting admissions.
The Nursing Council Secretary, in a letter sent to states on April 6, made it clear that the entrance test should be held before June 15 and the classes started before August 1. The admission procedures should be completed by September 30. Nursing admission should be done through an entrance test conducted by the respective state governments or universities.
There is, however, no clarity regarding the allocation of management seats.
Uncertainty on PG medical admissions
Meanwhile, uncertainty is looming large over the admissions to the medical post-graduate programmes too. Though the results of the PG entrance test were out much earlier, the National Medical Commission is yet to publish the admission schedule. There is no clarity either on whether the Central Government will be carrying out the admissions this time.