KEA to oversee paramed exam

Disclosing this to reporters while inspecting the CET Cell here on Monday, Minister for Social Welfare A Narayanaswamy said his department was making efforts to bring paramedical courses under CET counselling. A Government Order (GO) to the effect could be out soon, he added.

According to the Minister, admission to three courses - BSc Nursing, DGNM (Science) and DGNM (Arts and Commerce), which began on November 3 for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Caste (OBC) students, has been brought under the ambit of the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) for the first time.

As many as 3,856 SC and 700 ST students sought admission to 253 nursing colleges across the State. Of this, 2,213 SC students have been selected whereas counselling for ST and OBC students is underway.

Most applications (3,453), however, were received for the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) course as second PUC Arts stream were also eligible to apply for it.

Explaining the rationale behind bringing nursing courses under the ambit of KEA, Narayanaswamy said that his Department received numerous complaints against colleges without necessary infrastructure. Till now, students were admitted to nursing colleges at the discretion of District Social Welfare Officers.

The Government would bear the expense of students admitted through KEA. For this, Rs 12 crore had been allocated this year, he added. While a student pursuing a three-year course would get Rs 1.12 lakh, Rs 1.22 lakh would be spent per student on a three-year course. Interestingly, all these admissions are being made under the management quota in the colleges.

The Department has received 1,700 applications this year for the eight paramedical diploma courses. Students would be paid Rs 4,500 per year whereas a scholarship of Rs 1,000 would be given to each student per month. For this, Rs two crore have been earmarked.