Mumbai, Sept. 30 -- The Nursing Council of India has permitted the Maharashtra government to drop the minimum percentile requirement in the nursing entrance exam to ensure that vacant seats in colleges can be filled. Acting on this, the state's Common Entrance Test (CET) cell has announced that students who appeared for the MH Nursing CET will now be eligible for admission to BSc Nursing courses even if they scored 0 percentile in the entrance exam. The only condition that remains is that students must have at least 50% marks in Class 12 PCB (physics, chemistry and biology). Earlier, the rules required students to secure 50% in PCB along with a minimum of 50 percentile in the CET exam. The decision has been taken to provide more opportunities to students and to prevent nursing seats from going vacant. Addressing concerns about a drop in the quality of healthcare, Meenal Rane, principal of ITM IHS College of Nursing, said that the government had taken the step to allow more students to pursue skill-based higher education. "When we talk about quality, it is clear that students with lower percentiles will require extra effort and support throughout the four-year degree course," she said. "But since nursing was a skill-based profession, practical skills matter more than just entrance exam scores." The revised eligibility will apply from the academic year 2025-26. CET Cell officials said that students who had not registered earlier because of low CET scores could now apply online on the CET Cell website. Those who had started the process but not completed registration have also been asked to finish it. Welcoming the state's decision to drop the CET percentile to zero, Balasaheb Pawar, president of the Private Nursing Schools and College Management Association, said it was a long-pending demand. "The reality is that despite Maharashtra having nearly 16,000 BSc nursing seats in over 200 colleges, more than 7,750 seats remain vacant," he said. "This is more than 50% of the total capacity, and it is a serious concern at a time when the demand for trained nurses is so high." Pawar further pointed out that strict percentile rules and limited admission timelines had kept many eligible students out. Pawar also demanded an extension of the deadline for the admission process, stating that many students were unable to register for the BSc nursing admissions due to heavy rains and floods in different parts of Maharashtra. Taking this into account, the Indian Nursing Council has extended the cut-off date for admission to October 31 while the CET Cell has separately extended the registration deadline to October 5. CET Cell Commissioner Dilip Sardesai said that the additional time would help students who missed earlier rounds. He urged all eligible candidates to complete the registration process within the extended deadline to avoid losing their chance to get admission....