The Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has written to the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking his immediate intervention in resolving the crisis that has arisen regarding the admissions to nursing colleges in the State.
In his letter, Mr. Satheesan pointed out that the government’s decision that 18% GST be collected for every application form is one of the main reasons for the current crisis. He also pointed out that the State government took the said decision disregarding the stand of the GST council that GST need not be collected from educational institutions.
Mr. Satheesan said that the nursing college management associations withdrew from the single window admission process after the State government demanded the GST.
Of the 9,355 nursing seats in the State, 7,105 seats are in private nursing colleges. Out of the 119 private colleges, 82 are governed by two management associations. Hence students just needed to pay only ₹2,000 for two application forms for securing admission in any of the 82 colleges.
This year students are forced to pay ₹1,000 as application fee per application form submitted to colleges. They have also alleged in a petition filed in the Kerala High Court that in 37 colleges, which are not members of the management associations, merit has given way to exorbitant capitation fee.
Mr. Satheesan wondered why the government has taken the decision to do away with entrance exams, despite the Indian Nursing Council and the management associations demanding it.
He demanded that the Chief Minister intervene immediately so that the colleges which are not part of management associations are also made to process applications through the single window system.
The Indian Nursing Council has directed that this year’s nursing admissions should be completed between August 1 and September 30. The future of thousands of students planning a career in nursing is thus dependent on the Chief Minister intervention, Mr. Satheesan said.
