LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has launched a mega drive to improve the quality of nursing and paramedical education in the state after finding that over 77% of the new private sector applicant colleges scored way below the benchmark.
The surprise inspection and assessment was conducted by the directorate of medical education between January and March. Taking a strong note of the matter on Wednesday, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to lodge an FIR against nursing colleges working against rules or providing substandard education.
In a meeting with top officials, the CM said that colleges working without proper accreditation and authorisation were playing with the future of the young and this cannot be tolerated in the state. The CM directed officials to take any complaint in this regard seriously and act on it with immediate effect.
Director general, medical education, Dr NC Prajapati said that as many as 1,160 colleges had applied for permission to impart nursing and paramedical education between 2017 and 2021.
“As many as 25% of the applicants refused to get the due inspection done. This normally happens when the college managements are aware of their lapses. Gaps were found in the remaining 52% of the colleges while only 23% could qualify,” he told TOI.
On the kind of gaps found in the colleges, the officer stated that the colleges were deficient on parameters related to teaching positions, hospital buildings, hostels, lab facilities and university affiliation, besides lacking on crucial safety parameters like permission from the CMO office and fire safety assessment.
Insiders revealed that the department swung into action after getting to know that more than 97% of the applicants for the 4,700 nursing positions advertised by the state public service commission could not even secure the minimum qualifying marks of 40%.
Only 3,014 of the over 1.02 lakh applicants could pass the exam. “This raised serious doubts about the quality of education being imparted in nursing and paramedical colleges,” said officials.
Asked to comment on the quality of education and standards in existing private nursing or paramedical colleges, Dr Prajapati said: “Following instructions from the government, a surprise scrutiny of all colleges is on cards. And those failing to match the standards will lose their license.”
There are 888 nursing and 411 paramedical colleges in the private sector in UP. They form about 95% of the total nursing and paramedical colleges in state.
