80 nursing schools face closure – CHED

THE Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Monday said that at least 80 nursing schools face closure because of their poor performance in licensure exams.

CHED Executive Director Julito Vitriolo said that these schools had very low passing rates in licensure exams administered by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) for the past three years.

He did not identify the schools but he said that some are in Metro Manila and the rest are located in the provinces.

Aside from their low passing rates, Vitriolo said that the schools also failed to meet government regulations on the quality of their faculty and school facilities.

The CHED officials said that 20 nursing schools have already voluntarily phased out their degree programs for the same offense.

From 128 in 1991, the number of nursing schools had ballooned to 491 but many do not have the required base hospitals, laboratories, libraries and qualified faculty members.

Earlier, CHED Chairman Dr. Patricia Licuanan said the crackdown on sub-standard higher education institutions is part of their efforts to boost the quality of tertiary education in the country.

The PRC have already expressed concern over the low passing rate in the nursing licensure examinations. In the December 2011 board exam, the passing rate of 33.92 percent was even lower than the 35.25 percent in 2010, which CHED said was the lowest in history.

Only 22,760 of the 67,095 who took the exam last December passed.

From 2000 to 2010, schools have produced some two million nursing students, but many fail in the board exams. The Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates claimed that about 200, 000 nurses are jobless while the PRC said the figure is a little below 300, 000. –SAMMY MARTIN REPORTER, Manila Times