CHEd urged to name inferior nursing schools

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has urged the Commission on Higher Education to reveal the names of the 177 schools with substandard nursing education so that parents and nursing students may be guided accordingly.

CHEd should identify these schools that would be phased out so that parents would be warned not to enroll their children in these institutions, said TUCP secretary general Ernesto Herrera.

Recently, CHEd said 177 nursing programs nationwide failed to produce a student who was able to pass the Nursing Licensure Examination in the last five years. But the agency did not identify the schools but ordered their closure.

Herrera said CHEd has a duty to the public to divulge the names of these schools, which might continue to offer its services to unwitting parents.

He likened the deficient nursing institutions to defective products. Herrera pointed out that unsafe and defective products are often identified and recalled in the market to protect consumers.

“Right now, the public does not have a clue as to the identities of these inferior nursing schools,” Herrera said.

“We also have no idea as to when these schools will actually be closed down. Some of them may be able to appeal their cases, and continue to offer nursing programs indefinitely, to the detriment of consumers,” he added.

The 177 faulty institutions, according to Herrera, account for nearly half of all nursing schools. Encouraged by the prospect of getting high-paying jobs overseas, more than 420,000 students are now enrolled in 460 nursing schools nationwide.

The sheer number of nursing students in the country has produced a surplus of graduates that could not be accommodated in the local job market.

The substandard nursing schools result in substandard nursing graduates who can barely pass the board exam. The passing rate of board exam has been below 50 percent for the past several years. –Kristine L. Alave, Philippine Daily Inquirer