More than 4,000 nursing seats out of a total 12,500 have fallen vacant in the state this year, registering the largest ever dip in demand for the course.
Of 6,400-odd seats for General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) in 227 nursing schools, over 3,500 seats are yet to be filled, Kerala Nursing Council sources told DC.
In the case of BSc course, out of the 6,100 seats in 103 colleges, around 600 have fell vacant, notes the LBS Centre in Thiruvananthapuram that conducted the admissions.
Last year, around 2,400 GNM seats had remained vacant and 200 in BSc (Nursing). Though the Indian Nursing Council had set September 30 the deadline for admissions this year, it gave an extension by a month to complete proceedings in the state, considering the large number of vacant seats. The new deadline ended on October 31.
“The nursing programme is no more attractive, given recent strikes and skirmishes between managements and nurses over minimum wages and other service conditions. The demand for nurses in Europe and the US has also slowed down,” pointed out United Nurses Association (UNA) state president Jasminsha M. Private nursing college managements, however, claimed that many seats were still vacant because many students had crossed over to colleges in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh where admissions started early on. But Jasminsha contested this claim saying many nursing colleges in AP and Karnataka had shut shop following low demand from Kerala.
“For parents, sending children for nursing is now the last option,” he said.