THE Lyceum Northwestern University (LNU) hailed the decision of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to segregate first time takers of licensure examinations from repeaters.

Dr. Irmina Francisco, LNU director for academic affairs, said the move would pave the way for a more realistic and fair measurement of the performance of private schools in a particular licensure examination.

In a letter to Dr. Caesar Agnir, president of the Northern Christian Colleges in Laoag City, PRC chair Leonor Tripon-Rosero said her office and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) have agreed to segregate examinees into three categories: (1) First timers/Fresh graduates; (2) First timers/Previous graduates; and (3) Repeaters.

Earlier, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (Cocopea) raised concerns over the continued use of the present formula, which lumps first timers with repeaters, in computing a school’s passing percentage in licensure examinations.

Cocopea is the umbrella organization of 1,864 private schools, colleges and universities in the country.

“Private schools are continuously improving their curriculum and delivery of their instructions, especially those that submit to the stringent standards of accreditation by different accrediting agencies under the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP). Thus, to include repeaters in the computation of passing percentages distort the picture of how far the private schools have gone in its journey towards attaining higher quality education in a given period,” Cocopea said.

CHED chairman Carlito Puno also earlier called on the PRC not to include repeaters when computing the board-passing rate of schools.

Francisco cited a case during the December 2005 Nursing Licensure Examination (NLE) wherein LNU could have posted a passing percentage of 38.12% if the first timers and repeaters were lumped together.

“But without the repeaters, LNU’s passing percentage is 67%, which is way above the national passing average of 55.34%,” Francisco said.

An LNU graduate, Michelle Lim Aglubat, placed 7th in that exam.

In the July 2006 NLE, where three of its graduates were in the Top 10, LNU got a “lumped” passing percentage of 42.29%. Without the repeaters, its passing rate was 54.28%.

“We are asking the public not to be misled by advertisements of certain schools that maliciously and intentionally misinterpreted the CHED data, to the prejudice of other institutions,” Francisco said

She called for cooperation among schools in batting for the Cocopea position and other concerns being pushed by the organization in classifying the performance of all schools.

 “If  we have to follow the present PRC formula, we will all be considered poor performers. So, there’s really no reason to brag about it,” Francisco said.

The PRC is meeting all institutions under the Cocopea on November 14 to discuss the conduct of future board examinations.

Meanwhile, LNU president Atty. Gonzalo Duque congratulated the 25 LNU graduates who were added to its 263 Nursing board passers in the July 2006 licensure examination.

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments