MANILA, 1 May 2008 — The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) on Tuesday warned some 800 nursing review centers in the Philippines to comply with the accreditation guidelines until May 27 lest they be closed for good.
CHEd is acting on Executive Order 566 issued by President Gloria Macapacal Arroyo last November 2006 mandating that private review centers must integrate with educational institutions and complete the requirements asked of them to be able to operate in the coming years.
Department of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus earlier admitted that fly-by-night review centers have mushroomed in the country to cater to the needs of a big number of nursing graduates who would want to review for the annual Nursing Licensure Examinations given by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC).
EO 566 mandates that private review centers have until 27 May 2008 to comply with the CHEd requirements, foremost among them is the integration with accredited nursing schools, or be slapped with administrative and criminal charges.
The Education secretary noted that “only CHEd-accredited higher educational learning institutions may manage the nursing review centers in the Philippines.”
Lapus explained that CHEd ensures that the high educational standards asked of nursing graduates are complied with. The review centers managed by accredited institutions are answerable to the performance of their students during the licensure exams.
CHEd in its statement specifically cited the scandal that rocked the country in 2006 when some review centers, in their effort to compete with one another, purportedly leaked the answers to the Nursing Licensure Examinations.
The PRC refused to grant licenses to the nursing board passers and declared the exams null and void instead.
The nursing graduate students were asked to retake the exams for them to be officially issued licenses should they pass the retake tests.
CHEd data revealed that a high 497,000 nursing students enrolled for the present school year 2008-2009.
Mushrooming of review centers have threatened and may have caused the decline in the high standards required of nursing students, the statement said.
