Private dental colleges in Maharashtra stare at a large number of vacant seats

Vacancy in the year 2019-20 stood at 1,028 seats out of 2,350 seats in private dental colleges after three common admission rounds and the same figure stood at 622 in 2018

Nearly 697 seats across private dental institutes in the state, out of a total of 2,675 seats remain vacant this academic year (2021-22), information shared by the state common entrance test (CET) cell has revealed.

Private dental colleges in Maharashtra stare at a large number of vacant seats

While this figure is lower, compared to seat vacancies reported across private dental colleges in Maharashtra in the past few years, officials said this number is likely to go up as students who were allotted seats in the last mop-up round might not confirm admissions. All government seats have been filed.

“We had managed to allot all remaining seats in the recent mop-up round 2 (released on April 4), but the number of students dropping out of dental course in order to pick up seats in other paramedical courses is high in the last few years,” said an official from the state CET cell.

According to information shared by CET cell, almost 35% of seats, i.e., 852 seats out of 2,400 seats in private dental colleges in Maharashtra went vacant last academic year (2020-21), post three common admission rounds and two mop-up rounds.

Vacancy in the year 2019-20 stood at 1,028 seats out of 2,350 seats in private dental colleges after three common admission rounds and the same figure stood at 622 in 2018.

For years now, seats in private dental institutes have been going vacant across India. An aspirant need to score at least 50 percentiles in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) in order to be eligible for admission to a dental institute, however, last year the state of Karnataka sought to reduce this eligibility score to 20 percentiles after almost 60% of their seats in private dental colleges remained vacant even after two rounds of admission.

Nearly 62% of seats in private dental colleges have gone vacant in Punjab this year, raising queries against the government’s decision to give permission for the setting up of 100 new private dental institutes in Punjab.

“Dentistry, unlike MBBS, is an expensive affair even after graduation. As an MBBS, one can join many existing organisations/hospitals but after BDS, most choose to set up their own private practice, which is a very big investment. Unless students have financial backing, many choose to opt for paramedical courses like physiotherapy or Ayurveda instead of BDS,” said the dean of a private medical college in Pune.

Constant delay in conducting admissions to MBBS as well as BDS courses year after year has also attracted lesser aspirants to the course over the years. “Students with low scores would rather choose a seat in a BSc college, and pursue a career in research instead of spending time, money, and effort after courses like BDS which have been limited job options post-graduation,” said Muzaffar Khan, Thane-based medical education counsellor.