As Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has delayed the process of approving their colleges, the process of admissions to Under Graduate courses of Pharmacy has come to a standstill in Maharashtra. Since last few years, admissions to UG courses in State are done through Centralised Admission Process (CAP) conducted under Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) through CET Cell. Every year the technical institutions have to get approval from their respective Apex body. Architecture college has to get it done through Council of Architecture (COA), Pharmacy College has to get it done through PCI. Unless they get approved from their respective council they are not listed under CAP conducted by respective states. Results of Class XII were declared long ago, but admission process of pharmacy courses got delayed as the approval process at PCI level lingered on. Showing considerate approach State CET Cell and DTE extended the last date of form filling by students to November 12 from October 28. Till last year there were around 35,000 seats in Diploma level course while 15,000 of degree courses.

 

In Nagpur region around 30 colleges are running pharmacy courses. If process is delayed then colleges will face the issue of admissions as they won’t get adequate number of admissions. In case of less admissions colleges may find it difficult to run pharmacy courses. According to one Pharmacy teacher, financial problem is one issue and other one is disturbance in academic calender. If admissions delayed then students admitted would have to do the study within a short period of time. Teachers too would face the pressure of completion of course within a short tenure. During coronavirus pandemic the education sector suffered a lot, so pharmacy too. During that time the admissions done in December but it could not be avoided. This year there was no reason for the delay. PCI should have taken well care of all the procedures, said one former Member of PCI on condition of anonymity. Like other courses Pharmacy institutions too are facing manpower crunch. But in present situation no institute can dare to appoint new faculties as they are sure of having less number of admissions.