REFORMS implemented by the Commission on Higher Education since 2011 to address the proliferation of higher education institutions (HEIs) offering nursing programs resulted in more nursing graduates passing the nursing licensure exam (NLE) while reducing the number of schools offering the programs.
CHED Chair Prospero De Vera said from as high as 479 HEIs offering BS Nursing programs in 2011, the number has been reduced to 301.
The CHED issued a moratorium on the opening of all undergraduate and graduate nursing programs for all public and private HEIs in 2011.
The moratorium was declared due to the oversupply of nursing graduates, gradual decline in the performance of nursing graduates in the licensure exams, and the proliferation of HEIs offering BS Nursing programs.
The gradual phasing out of BS Nursing programs started in academic year 2013-2014 for HEIs with an average passing percentage of 30 percent for a 3-year period or from 2010 to 2013 in the licensure exam.
Last week, the CHED lifted the moratorium on new nursing undergraduate and graduate programs in response to the need for more nurses and other health care personnel in the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
De Vera said HEIs with an average passing percentage of 30 percent and below during the period were either closed or phased out as part of the Commission’s overall effort to improve the quality of nursing programs.
He said 61 non-compliant HEIs were issued phased-out orders while 52 voluntarily closed their nursing program.
Sixty-one HEIs, according to CHED data, have no NLE results while two others in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao were not monitored and evaluated.
De Vera said the reforms they implemented resulted in a marked increase in the passing percentage in the NLE from 38.45 percent in 2011 to 42.4 percent and 58.06 percent in 2020 and 2021.
“The moratorium has worked because the percentage of those who passed the licensure exams have also increased,” De Vera said.
De Vera said the CHED will continue its close monitoring of all HEIs offering nursing programs now that they have lifted the moratorium to ensure their compliance with the requirements and the quality of the programs being offered.
Sen. Francis Escudero yesterday lauded the CHED for lifting the moratorium, saying this will ensure the country will have a sufficient number of medical frontliners in case of another global health crisis.
Escudero, the incoming chairman of the Senate committee on higher, technical, and vocational education, said: “I welcome the decision of the CHED led by Chairman Prospero de Vera III to finally allow all higher education institutions (HEIs) to offer nursing courses.
It is really about time, especially with the lessons learned from our handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“The lack of health workers, including nurses, was a big challenge at the onset of the pandemic. We are still in a pandemic and we will be needing more medical workers. That is why we have to start rebuilding our workforce now so we don’t have to go through the same harrowing experience should another health crisis come,” he added. — With Raymond Africa
