Maharashtra Seeks Zero Percentile Eligibility to Fill Vacant BSc Nursing Seats

The Maharashtra state government's medical education department in Mumbai has urged the Indian Nursing Council (INC) to allow students with zero percentile in the Nursing Common Entrance Test (CET) to be eligible for BSc nursing admissions starting from the 2026-27 academic year. The move aims to fill thousands of vacant seats in private nursing colleges across the state and boost the number of trained healthcare professionals.

The state's medical education department sent a letter detailing the request to the INC secretary in June. The government is seeking a decision before the upcoming admission process begins so that prospective students can participate from the very first round of counselling.

Currently, students must score at least a 50 percentile in the nursing CET to qualify for admissions. This rule has led to a significant number of vacant seats. During the previous academic year, only 14,479 out of 43,191 candidates qualified for admissions due to the percentile restriction. Although 28,112 students were declared ineligible after three rounds of admission, the state's eleventh-hour request to lower the eligibility criteria went unanswered by the INC, resulting in students opting for other courses.

According to government data, Maharashtra had 294 nursing colleges last year, including 17 government and local body colleges and 277 private institutions, offering a total of 16,530 seats. While all 1,180 seats in government colleges were successfully filled, only 9,783 of the 15,350 seats in private colleges were occupied, leaving 5,573 seats vacant.

State officials argued that other professional courses, such as engineering and pharmacy admissions through the MHT-CET, do not enforce a minimum qualifying percentile. Similarly, several undergraduate health science courses admitting students through NEET-UG do not impose such restrictions.

Balasaheb Pawar, president of the Private Nursing Schools and College Management Association, noted that over 30 percent of the state's BSc nursing seats remain vacant despite high demand for trained nurses. Pawar suggested that if the INC does not approve the relaxation, the state government should amend the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions Act, 2015, to allow admissions based on Class 12 marks, similar to systems in states like Goa, Punjab, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

In addition to the zero-percentile proposal, the state government has requested the INC to permit students who appeared for other Maharashtra CET examinations with physics, chemistry, and biology to apply for BSc nursing seats once all nursing CET candidates have been accommodated.