The case of the
unreleased results

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Managing Editor ANTONIETA B. LOPEZ Business Editor ODETTE MONTELIBANO Desk Editor MARY ANN BARCELONA Advertising Coordinator RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete

ANDRES R. LEONARDIA Managing Director

There appears to be a lot more than just a lack of requirements in the case of the students from the School of Nursing of the West Negros College in Bacolod City, whose ratings in the latest board examination have been withheld by the Professional Regulatory Commission. This was indicated in the explanation given by the Commission to the DAILY STAR yesterday.

When the PRC released the results of the nursing board examinations administered in December, 2005, the grades and status of 460 examinees who are graduates of West Negros College were not released. To this day, therefore, these examinees do not know yet whether or not they have passed the test and are already qualified to practice the profession.

It is interesting to note that about half of the examinees are said to be already professionals or degree holders, a good number of them practising physicians believed to be planning to work as nurses in other countries.

The affected students have raised appeals to both the PRC and the Commission on Higher Education for the release of their test results, and have even sought help from the President herself. Some have filed, or are poised to file cases in court against the two agencies for what they claim is an injustice to them. In this, they have the support of both their school and its officials.

The PRC, on the other hand, has explained that it has found out that many of the graduates who took the examination had gone through the course with "overloads", that is, they were allowed to take up more subjects or acquire more units than the maximum allowed for a semester. A PRC official confirmed to the DAILY STAR yesterday that they are releasing this week the test results of those who did not exceed the maximum number of units which is 30 only.

There is, therefore, a lot to be threshed out before the matter of the withheld results can be resolved. In the meantime, it is hoped that this case will result in the improvement of the training of nurses in this country that has been perceived to have deteriorated drastically in recent years.*