The Hindu : Para-medical colleges also want to join admission talks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 02, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Para-medical colleges also want to join admission talks

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI Feb. 1 . Para-medical colleges offering four-year B.Sc in Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Nursing and B.Pharm (pharmacology) have urged the Government to call them for talks on the method of admissions to be followed this year.

So far these colleges have been following the single window system as was being done for all professional courses.

But after the Supreme Court orders in the TMA Pai foundation case, the situation has changed.

The working committee of the TN Paramedical Colleges Managements' Association, which met in Chennai yesterday, decided to implement the court order in toto, said the president, L.P. Thangavelu. The colleges would give "due consideration to meritorious students", as also "adequate importance to social justice".

Students from economically weaker sections and downtrodden society would be given priority in admissions.

Entrance examinations would be held to make the admissions transparent and fair.

The general secretary, Ishari K. Ganesh, told The Hindu later that Tamil Nadu had not made clear its stand after the court judgment.

"The Government, we learn, has called representatives of the self-financing engineering college managements for talks on February 3. We are also looking forward to the same, so that the matter could be discussed in detail."

In Tamil Nadu there were about 150 para-medical colleges run by 79 educational and charitable trusts.

At present, 50 persons could be admitted to one course in a year. Under the SWS, only half the number of seats that too under the `free' category was getting filled.

A `free' seat student should pay an annual fee of Rs. 6,000 for a para-medical course and a `payment seat' would cost Rs. 34,000 a year.

The fee had not been revised for the past eight years, despite requests. "We can now arrive at a reasonable fee structure of Rs. 25,000 or so after making admissions as is being done for MBA/MCA through an admission test."

Fiftynine para-medical colleges were represented in his association, said Dr. Ganesh.

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