The Ministry of Education today said it has not received applications from students for scholarship quotas for four-year BSc Nursing course.

Laxmi Kumar Khadka, Chief of the Scholarship Department at MoE, said they had offered six scholarship quotas for BSc Nursing in two colleges, namely College of Nursing under the Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences and Jana Maitri Foundation.

“We were taken by surprise as we have not received even a single application for BSc Nursing scholarships,” said Khadka. The ministry had called for applications on December 17, but only a few students had applied. Later, they also enrolled students in Bachelor’s of Dental Surgery.

The ministry again invited applications for the scholarships on January 15. However, the second call has also fallen flat.

The ministry administered a written test for scholarships in various subjects on November 12 and published results on November 21 where 1,970 students passed.

“Earlier, MBBS used to be students’ first priority followed by BSc Nursing,” said Khadka. He said Pharmacy has been the second-most favourite subject after MBBS this year.

It costs minimum Rs 300,000 to complete the four-year BSc Nursing.

The ministry has been providing scholarships for MBBS, BDS, B Pharma, BSc Nursing, Bachelor’s of Public Health, Bachelor’s of Forestry, Bachelor’s of Nursing, BSc Medical Lab Technician and Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery.

source: The Himalayan Times,7 Feb 2012