CHED CERTIFIES

FINALLY, the real story is out.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has confirmed the nursing Program of the Lyceum-Northwestern University in Dagupan City is not among those being monitored and reassessed for possible closure by the commission’s technical Committee on Nursing Education.

In a letter to L-NU President Dr. Gonzalo Duque, CHED Chair Carlito Puno disowned a newspaper report that listed L-NU as among the 37 Higher Education Institutions (HEI)  being reviewed by the Technical Committee on Nursing Program for having a board exam results batting average of less than 30 percent from 2000 to 2004.

Instead, he cited the university for its deregulated status, which meant that L-NU has met all the requirements for quality and academic excellence.

Any information relayed to the public about any school to be phased out or closed down has not been authorized by the commission,” Puno said.

Last December 2005, L-NU found further vindication when nursing fresh graduate Ms. Michelle Lim Aglubat placed 7th in the Nursing board examinations. Aglubat is one of the 256 other L-NU nursing graduates who passed the licensure exams in 2005.

As it turned out, the damaging press release was issued through the unauthorized initiative of then CHED Director for Programs and Standards, Dr. Catherine Castañeda and Dr. Fely Marlyn Lorenzo, head of the Technical Board of Nursing Committee.

As a result of this action and another unauthorized press release of announcing that the nursing course shall be extended to a 5-year program, Dr. Castañeda has been transferred to another office and has become the object of libel and damage suits filed by HEIs across the nation.

CHED Resolution no. 120 s. 2005 sets at 30% the minimum percentage of board passers that nursing schools should maintain, otherwise an institution’s nursing program could be closed or denied renewed permission to operate. Granting that the implementation of this CMO is legal, its scope however would cover board performance rating from 2005-2008 only.

The controversy emanated from the misinterpretation of Castañeda that CMO 120 s. 2005 would be used in gauging the performance of HEIs from 2000-2004 as well.

Earlier, RTC Judge Roland Mislang ruled on a complaint filed by the The Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU), permanently stopping the CHED from implementing its two controversial resolutions (no. 120s 2005 and no. 475 s. 2004), and also enjoined CHED officials from issuing further statements in media, print or television or through internet or through any forum that is derogatory of damaging to the petitioners-intervenors and its member institutions.

“The PACU had also protested the method of grading the performance of colleges and universities offering the nursing course and other courses over-generalizing the performance rating by averaging the passing percentage of both new graduates and old graduates of HEIs.”

Leonor Tripon-Rosero, chair of the Professional Regulation Commission, wrote PACU director Duque that the PRC has taken note of this concern and found merit in it but added that while her agency is “very willing to grant your request, we need a resolution from CHED and/or CHED Technical Committee on Nursing Education.”

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