The Kerala Human Rights Commission (KHRC) on Tuesday directed the State Police Chief to investigate the alleged cheating of students from the state in Karnataka under the guise of getting them admitted in nursing colleges.
The direction was issued by the commission's Acting Chairperson, K Baijunath, on a case initiated by it on its own based on newspaper reports, a statement issued by the KHRC said.
The commission also directed the State Police Chief to submit a report within three weeks, it said.
The KHRC noted, according to the release, that post-COVID there has been an increase in job opportunities in the health sector, especially nursing, and therefore, interest in studying nursing has seen an increase.
Due to a shortage of nursing seats in Kerala, thousands of students from the state are flocking to Karnataka to study nursing as there are over a 1,000 nursing colleges in Bengaluru itself, the release said.
However, admissions to these colleges are possible only through agents who charge exorbitant amounts as fees and then cheat the students, mostly by admitting them to unrecognised institutions, it said.
While the government approved annual fees is Rs 65,000, students were being charged over Rs 3 lakh, the KHRC noted.
Even fake admission letters of leading colleges were being given to students, it further said.
Published 04 July 2023, 15:12 IST