AP govt. contemplates conducting special exam for admissions into nursing courses
The government of Andhra Pradesh is gearing up to conduct a special exam for the admissions into nursing courses for the year 2022-23 and sought NTR Health University to organize a nursing CET for this. The Indian Nursing Council has decided in 2020 to conduct NEET or state-level entrance examinations to raise standards in nursing education similar to engineering and medicine.
The nursing CET was to be conducted from the 2021–22 academic year but was exempted due to corona at the time. The Indian Nursing Council has refused the NTR Medical University's request for an exemption for this academic year as well. The university officials wrote a letter to the government asking it to conduct a special examination.
There are about 200 BSc Nursing Colleges in the state, both public and private, with up to 12,000 seats. Students from other states including Telangana, Kerala, West Bengal, Manipur, and Tripura come to do nursing courses in Andhra Pradesh. Admissions to the four-year nursing course are based on inter-marks so far.
The Government conducts the Engineering, Agriculture, Pharmacy Common Entrance Test (EAPCET) for admissions in Engineering, Agriculture, and Pharmacy courses in the State. In this context, it is possible for BSc Nursing admissions through EAPCET. However, the deadline for EAPCET is over. On the other hand, the Indian Nursing Council offers BSc Nursing admissions based on NEET scores. However, the application deadline for NEET has also expired. In this context, NTR Health University officials have been appealed to organize a special nursing CET for this academic year.
The examination for admissions in four-year nursing courses is conducted for 100 marks. It consists of 20 marks in Nursing Aptitude, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and English. General students must achieve at least 50, SC, ST, OBC students 40, Divyangs (General) 45, Divyangs (SC, ST, OBC) 40 percentile. Admissions are based on the marks obtained in the entrance examination. Convenor quota seats will be replaced by Nursing CET this year and Management quota seats will be replaced by NEET-UG.