NURSING PROGRAM UP TO PAR: CHED apologizes to UV for wrong announcement

CEBU, Philippines - The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) admitted yesterday that it mistakenly included the University of the Visayas (UV) in the list of institutions with nursing programs recommended for closure.

CHED Chairman Emmanuel Angeles sent a letter through facsimile to UV Executive Vice-President and VP for Finance Jose R. Gullas correcting the information earlier published that UV was one of the four schools in Cebu advised to scrap its nursing program for failure to surpass the national passing percentage of 40.70 percent.

Angeles already apologized to Gullas over the phone last week for the mistake.

“We take cognizance for the performance of the graduates in nursing of the University of the Visayas, Banilad, Mandaue City for the year 2009. A review of the data given to us by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) revealed that truly your graduates’ performance in the 2009 Board Examination for Nurses is 45.72 percent which is above the National Passing Percentage of 40.70 percent,” Angeles said.

“We hope that this information will rectify the adverse publicity regarding the passing percentage of your nursing graduates,” he added.

Gullas said in an interview over ABS-CBN TV Patrol yesterday that since CHED has already apologized, they might not pursue anymore their plan to file a case against the body.

“When I learned about it, I was shocked. I was mad. Their error is very damaging. Maapektuhan ang enrollment. Students started panicking. I called up Chairman Angeles to tell him about it. Nag-sorry siya and promised to correct it,” Gullas said.

Lawyer Joseph Baduel, UV Vice president for External Affairs said that not pursuing the case against CHED is only one of their options, because they are yet to assess the damage that the negative publicity had caused.

“If the damage is really that much, UV might be constrained to take a stronger action against CHED,” Baduel told the Freeman in a phone interview.

“We just hope that the letter of CHED will correct everything. The plan is come out with a one page advertisement publishing the letter of CHED,” he added.

Baduel said that UV’s nursing program has been there for over 15 years already and since then, they have produced competent graduates, some are already abroad.

He said that on 2008, UV’s passing rate has even reached 75 percent while they have also produced topnotchers. — /NLQ (FREEMAN NEWS)