PRESIDENT Macapagal-Arroyo, who earlier refused to order a retake of the leakage-marred 2006 Nursing Licensure Exam, has issued Executive Order No. 609 directing the Department of Labor and Employment to administer the retake exams through the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). The PRC is the body that administers professional licensure exams in the country which earlier resisted calls for a retake and re-computed the exams instead.
The order was released after the US-based Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools refused to issue a certification for working visas to the passers of the June 2006 Nursing exam unless they retake Test 3 (Medical and Surgical Nursing) and 5 (Psychiatric Nursing) of the exam.
“The retake is one step to bring back the integrity of the Nursing profession since it will screen those who will become future nurses,” Nursing assistant dean Delia Llanes told the Varsitarian. “It is very critical to observe the board exams for Nursing is not a profession one can take lightly. It deals with human lives.”
The College of Nursing lauded Malacañang’s decision to subsidize the special voluntary examinations. The government has allocated P20 million for the licensure review and retake.
Universities and colleges like UST whose nursing programs are centers of excellence or whose passing rate in the licensure exams is high will serve as special review centers for the students who will retake. The review began last April 16 and will end on June 3.
As of press time, the head office of PRC said that Manila alone already has 2,458 applicants for the retake.
The exam is scheduled on June 11 and 12 and on December 2007 and can only be taken once. John Constantine G. Cordon
