Worried about their colleges no longer requiring approval from the Indian Nursing Council (INC), several anxious students staged a protest at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) here on Thursday.
A third year B.Sc. nursing student from New Delhi, who is studying in K.N.M. College of nursing, said: “We joined the college because we would have approval from INC, which represents quality. I have already completed three years and now this decision has been taken. We will not be satisfied if our college has approval only from the Karnataka State Nursing Council (KNC),” he said.
Another student said that they were taken aback by the sudden decision and that having INC approval would help monitor the quality of these colleges.
Although the High Court of Karnataka passed an order stating that INC had no authority to grant recognition to institutions imparting nursing colleges, students fear that not having INC approval will affect their job prospects. The issue cropped up after the INC removed the list of Karnataka colleges from its website after the State government in December last year passed an order stating that nursing council approval was not required for State colleges.
Incidentally, there are two factions of nursing colleges. While one section is insisting on KNC approval, another is demanding INC approval and approaching the court too.
There are around 254 nursing colleges in the State, which have thousands of students from other States. Recently, Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil met representatives of nursing colleges to resolve the issue. However, officials in the KNC are still waiting for any move.
M.K. Ramesh, in-charge Vice-Chancellor of RGUHS, said that the government would be apprised of the students’ concerns.