Over 450 nursing students stage protest over non-recruitment by PGI Chandigarh

Chandigarh: After the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI Chandigarh) refused to employ nursing students from its own institute, nearly 450 nursing students, including students from Nursing students of National Institute of Nursing Education (NINE), staged a protest on Wednesday in front of the institute demanding revocation of the order and recruit students who have completed their course as per the bond. 

Raising their voice against the administration for its failure to keep its promise of providing jobs to nursing students from NINE, the protesters have expressed their anger for not being able to get jobs at the institute even after fulfilling the bond agreement.  

The students gathered in the scorching heat with placards and chanted anti-administration slogans in front of the Kairon Block PGI. The protesting students included students from the current batch and those who graduated from PGI last year in September, i.e. the 2022 batch. 

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The agitation took place after the administration on Sunday issued a speaking order stating that it will not provide jobs to girl students who have completed BSc from the Institute located on its campus. 

The announcement made the nursing students agitated since they claimed that before admission to the institute, they signed a bond which specifies that the student is obligated to work at the institute upon graduation. On failing to fulfil this obligation, the student is held liable to pay the specified bond amount mentioned to PGI. 

Although the BSc nursing batch of 2018-2022 from NINE made multiple requests to the administration to issue appointment letters for the post of nursing officers at PGI, their issue remained unheard, which prompted the students to protest against the order.

Apart from demanding revocation of the order, the students also demanded the issue of transcripts or NoCs after course completion, which will allow them to apply for jobs anywhere else if the institute refuses to appoint them. 

However, according to the speaking orders, the institute never guaranteed that these students will be offered appointments on a regular basis in PGI upon completion of training. The order further stated that as per recruitment rules framed for the post of nursing officer at PGI, they are done through direct recruitment and the rules do not mention anything about the appointment of BSc pass outs from the institute on campus.

Shortage of nursing officers

While the students claimed that there is a shortage of nursing staff at the institute and despite that, the administration refused to employ them, the administration denied the statements and said there is no need of appointing new nurses since most of the positions are filled. 

However, the institute’s official website presented a different view, there are approximately 250 vacant positions of nursing officers at PGI. Later, the administration acknowledged that over 1,200 nurses were needed at the institute, but recruitment was halted due to a case pending in the SC/ST commission.

As many as 95 BSc students were denied employment after the completion of their course in September last year. The administration has also sent job rejection letters to the homes of the students.

"We have been writing to the administration about these problems, but no one has paid heed. The batches of 2022 and thereafter are the only ones affected as they have not been absorbed by PGI despite vacancies," Nisha, a graduate of the 2018-2022 batch from the National Institute of Nursing Education (Nine), PGI, informed TOI.

"We were hoping to get jobs in the institute like the previous batches. That is why, despite a wait of eight months, we did not seek a job anywhere else. Also, we are not given our transcripts and cannot look for options abroad," said a student. 

A student named Harsha said, "We are unemployed for more than 6 months now and even the institute was not letting us break our bond during this duration. And now, they abruptly passed a speaking order stating that they will not provide us the job, despite wasting our 6 months."

In response to this, PGI director Prof Vivek Lal said, "The commission has stalled the process, but we are earnestly trying to resolve the issue. The roster is ready and likely to be advertised soon. I will be in Delhi on Thursday to work on the problem."

The protest grabbed the attention of Manoj Lubana, President of Chandigarh Youth Congress, who criticised the institute for not paying attention to the protesting students who had been sitting on the road in the heat just to raise the issue to the administration. 

Meanwhile, the students had moved to the central administrative tribunal on April 3. The matter is listed for further consideration at the tribunal on July 6.

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