Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the BSc Nursing admission process has entered the last leg in its neighbouring states, the Kerala Government is yet to decide on inviting the applications. The inordinate delay may derail the plans of students seeking to enrol for the course which qualifies youths for immense job opportunities abroad.
While the admission procedures are in the final stages in Tamil Nadu, the nursing entrance results are set to be declared within the next few days in Karnataka.
Kerala didn’t conduct an entrance test on the grounds of inadequate time, despite the Indian Nursing Council’s (INC) direction to mandatorily hold the examination while allocating admissions. But the State has not even initiated preliminary discussions and procedures to carry out the admissions based on Plus Two marks, the method it has been following for long.
State Health Minister Veena George convened a high-level meeting on January 13 to discuss various issues in the nursing field of study. Then she assured that the authorities would prepare a calendar for the timely conduct of all processes, from holding the examination to allocating admissions. However, the calendar is yet to be brought out.
The State Nursing Council and the Health University too didn’t start measures to allocate annual affiliation to colleges. Presently, there are 7,000 seats in 130 nursing colleges in the state.
25 new colleges only on paper
The Kerala Government’s budget promise to start 25 new nursing colleges in the state still remains on paper. Finance Minister K N Balagopal had announced that a sum of Rs 25 crore was set aside for starting new nursing colleges. However, the authorities couldn’t yet take measures to start even a single college.