Hyderabad: Over 2,000 out of 6,500 BSc Nursing seats remain vacant two weeks after since the government granted approval to the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) to admit students based on their NEET or Eamcet scores. The situation has raised concerns among students and parents that they could lose a year due to administrative delays at the university.
The issue, students said, arose from discrepancies in admission criteria between the convener and management categories, coupled with confusion over NEET/Eamcet requirements. While the Indian Nursing Council relaxed rules, permitting admissions without NEET/Eamcet qualifications, the KNR University continued to mandate NEET for the management quota and Eapcet for the convener category.
This inconsistency has led to a lack of awareness among students, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds, resulting in a significant number of seats remaining unfilled.
Following government intervention, guidelines were issued on February 24, 2024, instructing KNRUHS to fill the vacancies based on merit or NEET/Eamcet scores. "However, the university has failed to implement the directive, prolonging the plight of 2,000 aspiring nursing students who face the risk of losing an academic year due to administrative inertia," one of the parents informed DC.
Urgent appeals have been made to the Vice Chancellor and Registrar of the health university to address the issue promptly, to ensure equitable access to education for all students, "especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds."
