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A nationwide alliance of students over the weekend slammed the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for its failure to check the
growing number of fly-by-night review centers in the country.
In a statement, the National Union of Students
of the Philippines (NUSP) condemned the commission’s move to
extend the imposition of Executive Order (EO) No. 566.
“CHED should seriously look into the quality
and capability to operate of the numerous independent review centers
that have mushroomed in cities all over the country,” NUSP
Secretary-General Henrie Enaje said in a statement.
Under the said order, independent review centers
are directed to integrate with existing schools, as a means to
prevent “unscrupulous and purely money-making schemes in the guise
of review centers” from proliferating.
The planned imposition of EO No. 566 came about
after the Northcap Review Center in Baguio City hoodwinked some
1,067 nursing reviewers and ran away with P1.2 million in
registration fees.
Likewise, the 2006 Nursing Licensure Exam
controversy was tainted with alleged leakage. After the Professional
Regulation Commission conducted a probe into the reported leakage,
the nursing examinees were asked to retake the exam on a voluntary
basis.
“We sincerely hope that such scandals as those
of the nursing board exam leakage two years ago, in which several
review centers were implicated, need not further take place before
CHED officials take action,” Enaje said.
The group said the aside from conducting a
“circular review” of all existing review centers, the commission
should also be stringent in coming up with clear guidelines before
awarding accreditation.
Upon requests from several independent review
centers, the commission on Wednesday extended for another six months
the deadline for these centers to obtain accreditation from
respective school institutions.
Independent review centers sought for an
extension, saying they have yet to finalize documents and other
requirements for registration.
-- James Konstantin Galvez
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