THE Commission on Higher Education (Ched) warned Tuesday 152 nursing schools whose passing rates in licensure exams is way below the standard set by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) for the past five years to "shape-up or be phase-out."

"This is a wake-up call for our nursing schools to shape-up or phase-out. Ched will not hesitate to enforce the regulation if they still failed to heed our calls," said Ched Chairman Dr. Emmanuel Angeles.

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"With this move, we are helping not only the parents and students to carefully choose the nursing schools they go to, but we are helping our economy my minimizing frustrations and wastage among our nursing graduates when they take the licensure tests and make sure that they only get quality education," he added.

Angeles said these schools will be issued individually an initial warning from Ched to improve their nursing program through their graduates' performance in the succeeding nursing licensure exams.

He said the Commission has the legal authority to order the closure or phasing out of degree programs that failed to meet the standard in licensure test.

Ched Resolution No. 378-2009 stated that "For this school year, higher education institutions (HEI) whose performance in licensure examinations in the last three consecutive years is greater than 50 percent but lower than the national passing rate shall be given an initial warning to improve their performance."

For those HEIs whose passing percentage is zero percent for the last three years, Ched said they will be phased out while those whose performance in licensure tests were above 50 percent but less than the national average shall have their recognized programs downgraded to permit status.

Angeles said Ched identified the low performing nursing schools through a series of validation processes conducted on the country's 456 nursing schools today. They performed below the National Passing Rate of 46.14 percent.

Likewise, some schools have voluntarily phased out or closed down their nursing programs.

These are: Bacarra Medical Center School of Midwifery, Antipolo School of Mursing and Midwifery, Heroes Memorial College, Kolehiyo ng Mamamayan, Cotabato Maritime Academy, Ignatian College, Clinica Arellano School of Midwifery, Quezon Memorial College, Sta. Teresita College, Baguio General Hospital, Chong Jua Hospital School of Nursing, Faith Hospital School of Midwifery, Manila College of Optometry, Ortanez University, and the Philippine Union College of Caloocan.

On the other hand, Ched released the list of the Top 20 nursing schools in the country with Silliman University having an average of 96.57 percent followed by the Saint Louis University, 95.42; Trinity University of Asia with 95.06; University of Sto. Tomas, 95.06; Cebu Doctors University, 91.89; Saint Paul University, 89.79; Central Philippine University, 86.72; De La Salle University-Health Sciences campus, 85.26; Saint Mary's University, 84.10; San Pedro College, 83.10; Manila Doctors College, 82.56; Centro Escolar University-Manila, 81.50; Angeles University Foundation, 76.37; Mariano Marcos University, 75.55; University of San Agustin, 73.25; University of Cebu, 70.99; Metropolitan Hospital College of Nursing, 70.54; Ateneo De Davao University, 70.20; San Juan De Dios Education Foundation, 69.91; and University of St. La Salle with 67.55.

Angeles said these schools have 1,000 or more exam takers for the licensure test.

For those schools with 100-999 takers, University of the Philippine-Manila topped the list with 99.41 percent followed by Xavier University with 97.82; West Visayas State University, 96.75; St. Paul University-Iloilo, 96.16; University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center, 95.80; Cebu Normal University, 94.64; Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, 93.14; St. Paul University-Dumaguete, 92.29; Mindanao State University, 92.15; Palawan State University, 92.05; Philippine Christian University, 91.35; Velez College, 90.92; Colegio de Sta. Lourdes of Leyte Foundation, 88.55; Chinese General Hospital College of Nursing and Liberal Arts, 87.60; St. Paul University-Manila, 85.31; Easter College, 85.26; Southville International School and Colleges, 84.77; St. Paul University-Quezon City, 83.87; Adamson University, 83.57; and Lyceum of the Philippines University with 82.20.

Last month, Ched closed down six law schools after failing to have their graduates passed the bar examinations administered by the Supreme Court (SC).

These were the Eastern Samar State University, Polytechnic College of La Union, Samar College, Ramon Magsaysay Technological University, Southern Bicol College and Abra Valley College.

Five others have voluntarily closed down their law offerings, Ched said.

Earlier, Angeles said that in a seven-year period (2001-2008) the number of flankers in PRC-administered licensure exams exceeded the number of board passers by as much as 1.42 million or about 64 percent. Only 808,884 (36.35 percent) out of the 2,225,571 examinees for the period has passed the test.

The problem, he said, is compounded by the fact that of the existing 1,741 HEIs in the country, only 50 or 3 percent have good facilities. (AH/Sunnex)