CHEd memo may doom review centers

First posted 02:55am (Mla time)
Oct 23, 2006
By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer

A MEMORANDUM being drafted by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) may soon spell the end for nursing review centers implicated in the June licensure examinations leakage.

The eight-page draft of the implementing rules and regulations proposes that review centers should not be involved in “controversies such as those pertaining to unethical and/or deceitful practice tending to degrade the integrity of licensure examinations, acceptable academic practices and traditions.”

Copies of the draft are being circulated for comment to review center owners and schools, according to Jerome Mansibang, owner of Edgeworth Nursing Review School in Manila.

Mansibang, calling attention to the phrase “non-involvement in controversies,” said should the new CHEd rules be implemented, they would deal a heavy blow to R.A. Gapuz, Pentagon and Inress review centers, which were at the center of the leakage scandal.

“It will definitely hit them,” he told the Inquirer in an interview Saturday.

The National Bureau of Investigation earlier found that reviewers at the three centers had made good use of the leakage to pass the June licensure exams.

Mansibang, who furnished the Inquirer a copy of the draft, said the document was first shown around during a consultation meeting between the CHEd and review centers on Oct. 17 and Oct. 18. Another meeting is set on Oct. 25 and 26.

He said review centers had been told that no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wanted the implementing rules and regulations completed and put in place by next month, in time to have an effect on the nursing licensure exams in December.

The proposed new rules in essence seek to transfer the responsibility of running review centers to schools “with duly recognized courses/programs.”

It defines review centers as those “operated and owned by a school with a recognized professional course/program offering to the public and/or to a specialized group for a fee a program of study that is intended to refresh and enhance the knowledge or competencies obtained in the formal school setting.”

Tie-up or integrate

Review centers existing at the time Executive Order No. 566 was issued, the one which placed them under the CHEd, will be given three years to “tie up or be integrated” with a recognized school, according to the draft.

“In the alternative, they may convert as a school and apply for the course covered by the review subject to rules and regulations of the CHEd and the (Securities and Exchange Commission) with respect to the establishment of schools,” it said.

The proposal puts a premium on track record, saying a school “must possess credibility and track record in terms of overall reputation and standing in the academic community.”

Such a standing, it said, could be gleaned from awards and recognition received, performance in the licensure examinations, international linkages and recognition, and recognized reputation and integrity of school officials.

“Non-involvement in controversies” completes the requirement on track record, according to the proposed document.

Passing rate

Citing discussions during the consultation meetings, Mansibang said a review center would be required to have a passing rate of at least 8 percent and a school rating of at least 30 percent in order to continue operating.

A review center under a school will be covered by the 8-percent requirement, he said.

Mansibang said another important issue discussed was requiring a ratio of one teacher for every 100 reviewers.

He said that currently, a review center accepts as many as 10,000 students under one teacher. He said the centers made this possible by sitting reviewers in a spacious venue or by using broadcast facilities able to reach enrollees in other parts of the country.

“The situation is really terrible,” he said. “The premium, for many review centers, is on profit.

I’m happy because the proposed new rules focus on the quality of review centers in all disciplines.”