New Delhi: From next year onwards, pharmacy students are debarred from appearing in the prestigious and nation-wide valued Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineering (GATE). National Coordinating Board (NCB), the statutory body which conducts GATE, has made the announcement to exclude the pharmacy education from the purview of this nation-wide annual examination, which is scheduled to be conducted on February 12, 2010.
As per the sources, the NCB has decided to exclude pharmacy education from the GATE examination, on the rather baseless petition that the board does not have pharmacy teachers to prepare the question papers. The NCB consists of senior faculty from IITs and other prominent engineering institutions. The NCB’s decision will directly and adversely affect the higher studies in pharmacy education in the country. The pharmacy students will not be eligible for the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)'s scholarships for higher studies. The scholarship amount ranges from Rs 7,000 to 8,000 per month.
Presently, students aggrieved with NCB’s decision have moved Karnataka High Court and the court has admitted a writ petition. Dr B Suresh, Chairman of Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), said that Council has already taken up the issue with the HRD Ministry. He further said that if the MHRD gives a mandate to the PCI to conduct the GATE exams for the pharmacy students, the PCI is ready to conduct it. He also added that he would once again raise the issue in the next NCB meeting, which is scheduled on November 23 in Guwahati.
