CHEd closes nursing courses of 6 Southern Mindanao schools

DAVAO CITY—The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has ordered at least six schools in Southern Mindanao to stop offering nursing courses starting in June due to the mediocre performance of their graduates in recent nursing board examinations.

Raul Alvarez Jr., CHEd regional director, said here on Wednesday that the six schools, which he would not name except to say that most of them operate in the city, could not satisfy the 30-percent passing rate requirement that the CHEd had set for nursing schools.

Alvarez said another reason that the CHEd ordered them to stop offering nursing was their  failure to comply with CHEd rules. Alvarez, however, refused to say what the violations were.

He said one of the six schools that the CHEd had ordered to stop offering nursing was seeking a temporary restraining order from a local court.

Alvarez said in Southern Mindanao alone, at least 10 schools had stopped offering the course due to low passing rates of graduates in nursing board exams and “other problems with CHEd.” He did not say what these problems were.

He said the CHEd also issued a memorandum to at least 30 other schools offering nursing in Southern Mindanao because from 2010, it was noted that their passing percentage was lower than what was required.

Alvarez also said the CHEd would take legal action against schools that would increase tuition this year without fulfilling requirements first.

The CHEd is requiring private schools to submit letters of intention to raise tuition until Feb. 28. In Southern Mindanao, however, only 30 of 92 private schools have submitted those letters,  Alvarez said.

He said the CHEd was assuming that the 62 schools that did not submit the letters would not increase their tuition. If they do, Alvarez said the schools would be taken to court. Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao