Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza. (INQUIRER.net file photo)
MANILA, Philippines — Even nursing board exam flunkers need to have the opportunity to find jobs, Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza agreed said in a statement on Wednesday, in agreement with Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa.
Daza said that it might be time for the Professional Regulation Commission to review these examinations to determine whether they were a barricade to employment.
Last March, Daza gave a privilege speech asking the PRC to study the possibility of lowering standards to fill a shortage of nurses and other workers. He gave a similar speech in April.
“Half of our examinees in many professions flunk. What our newly-appointed DOH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said is correct: The [PRC] needs to ‘relax’ the rules. However, the solutions must be long-term rather than stop-gap measures,” Daza said, partly in Filipino, in his Wednesday statement.
Two days ago, Herbosa also urged the PRC to consider nursing board examinees with a rating of 70 to 74 percent for vacant posts in the country’s healthcare system.
Herbosa assured that the quality of the workforce would not dwindle as nurses would still be given another chance to pass the board exams.
In his March privilege speech, Daza revealed exams in certain fields have a low passing rate:
- 31.56% for elementary education
- 41.25% for secondary education
- 4.36% for certified public accountants
- 33.18% for fisheries technologists
- 36.92% for agriculturists
In response to the issue, Daza suggested that non-passers could take another route. For example, they could get into a system with an apprenticeship program through which they could develop the skills necessary for the career they would want.
“We have been discussing this matter with PRC and I’m happy that they are very receptive. There are solutions — aside from rationalizing the passing rates — such as a ‘modular’ approach where examiners who failed the board exams but passed in certain subjects need no longer retake the whole exam,” Daza said.
“It’s time to break all barriers. We already have the law on free tertiary education. It’s still problematic in certain aspects but it’s a good start. What we need to work on as well is ensuring that our graduates will not join the unemployed after graduation.”