Most potential Florence Nightingales from Gujarat cannot make it to the foreign land. Blame it on the language barrier. From about 5,000 professionally trained nurses that the state churns out every year, only a slender 10% actually make it to their dream destination due to lack of command over English.
The number of nurses going abroad from the state has gone down by 50% during last couple of years as the English language requirement has become stricter. About five years ago with an average score of 5.5 bands in IELTS (an English language proficiency test), a nursing diploma holder could manage to meet registration requirements of UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada nursing councils. However, now aspirants are required to score about 6.5 to 7 bands.
Dr Sudhir Shah, an immigration advocate said,“The lack of command over English is a major barrier in Gujarat. The outflow of nurses has increased manifold from other states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.”
The demand for trained nurses has risen in developed countries. “However, nurses from the state fail to meet the professional requirements set by these countries,” said an educational consultant, Raghuvirsingh Khushuwah who conducts an English language course in the city along with an institute from New Zealand for nurses who want to go abroad. The attraction of getting a package of average $50,000 per year with barely 40 hours workload in a week which a nursing professional starts with abroad over the possibility of landing a Rs 5,000 job in the state makes the aspirants work hard on improving their language skills. “I am working hard to meet the language requirements which have been raised,” said Lalit Adesara, 27, holder of diploma of general nursing who is busy preparing for IELTS.
Jasu Patidar, registrar from Gujarat Council of Nursing said, “From 4,800 nursing seats that the council has only about 20% students come for verification procedures required for going abroad.”
Jyotsna Pandya, principal of Civil’s School of Nursing said, “To assist students we have extended the coaching of English language from 30 to 60 hours in the first year. We also conduct about 15 events in which the students’ presentations and participation are mandatory in English.”
