Mumbai: Following the decision of the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay high court, admissions to nursing courses will now be done based on Physics, Chemistry and Biology (PCB) marks in the class XII examination instead of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). The court’s decision came after the first round of admission.
In the first round, around 1,200 admissions were made. The high court has given this decision giving protection to these admissions. This decision will benefit thousands of students who could not qualify for the NEET exam.
On Saturday, the members of the Private Nursing School and College Management Association (PNSCMA) urged the Common Entrance Test (CET) cell to re-open admissions for B.Sc (Nursing) courses as per court order.
Speaking at an online interaction, on Sunday, Dr Balasaheb Pawar, president of PNSCMA said, “NEET criteria was unfair to aspirants in Maharashtra. The court’s decision to quash the CET cell’s order of making NEET the qualifying score for nursing education is a welcome move.”
He added that since 2012, aspirants of B.Sc (nursing) have been expected to take the NEET-UG.
“This year, Indian Nursing Council (INC) in April said that states could conduct a 100 marks aptitude test or admit candidates who are in the 50 percentile and above bracket in the NEET exam,” said Pawar.
“The PNSCMA discussed not following the INC circular with the CET cell and state authorities. Following that, the CET cell issued a circular on June 16 requesting that colleges in Maharashtra admit students based on the qualifying score established by the INC. It is after this, that we moved to the court and brought justice for the colleges and students,” said Pawar.
There were 6,030 nursing course seats available in the state, with nearly 1,200 admissions made. Now the remaining seat admission will be done as per the court order. CET cell will come up with a revised schedule for admission on Monday.
“The 50% qualifying criteria in NEET was a very high bar for candidates. NEET is used for B.Sc nursing admission in three states, including Maharashtra. Most states and deemed universities opted to take the 100 marks test and admit students to the nursing degree programme,” said Dr Ramling Mali, President, of Maharashtra Nursing Council.