One of the reasons why there are so many nursing graduates is because schools that offer nursing courses have also proliferated. Unfortunately not all of the existing nursing schools offer quality education and one proof pf that is the low percentage of their graduates that passed the national licensure examination for nurses.

To solve this problem, the Commission of Higher Education (CHED) issued an advisory to the schools with dismal passing rate in the board examination to improve the quality of their education within the next three years or they will be forced to close down.

Julito Vitriolo, the CHEd Executive Director said that 100 plus nursing schools in the country face the possibility of closure in 2013 if their board exam passing rate (less than 30%) did not improve. According to the CHEd Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 14 Series of 2009, the minimum passing rate of nursing schools should not be lower than 30%.

Vitriolo said, "Starting this school year, we will be monitoring them and if their passing rate remains below 30 percent by 2013, then their nursing program will be phased out."

"We will implement the closure by 2013, based on CMO 14. We are already monitoring 16 government schools that offer nursing but are not performing well. The private schools will follow," he added.

A report from Ched informed that more than half (55%) of all nursing schools in the country had a passing grade that fell short of the 40.70 percent national passing average. The statistics was taken from the licensure examinations the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) supervised in June and November 2009.

Emmanuel Angeles, CHEd chair promised to ensure the quality of nursing education in the Philippines by closely monitoring and evaluating the performance of nursing schools nationwide.

Along with the announcement regarding the low performing nursing schools, CHed also announced the best school in the coutry that offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing course. The passing ate of the said schools was higher than the 40.70 percent national average.

Meanwhile, CHEd also announced the names of the top performing schools offering the Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs in the country for 2009. These schools’ passing rate was higher than the 40.70 percent national average.

The top 3 nursing schools with 1,000 or more examinees, were Far Eastern University-Manila, Centro Escolar University-Manila and Manila Central University-Caloocan City.

For those with 100-999 takers, the top three were Trinity University of Asia (Trinity-QC), University of Santo Tomasand Chinese General Hospital College of Nursing and Liberal Arts.

For those with 10-99 examinees, University of the Philippines-Manila, Philippine-Christian University-Manila and Saint Paul University-Quezon City came on top. The complete list of all top and low performing nursing schools can be found at the PRC website at www.prc.gov.ph