THE Coordinating Council of Private
Educational Association (Cocopea), the country's largest
consortium of private colleges and universities, on Wednesday
rejected as "disastrous" the new set of guidelines issued by the
Commission on Higher Education for the BS Nursing program.
Cocopea asked CHED to suspend implementation
of its own Memorandum Order No. 5 (CMO 5) issued last May 14
directing nursing schools all over the country to adopt the new
policies and standards for the BSN program starting this school
year.
Cocopea is also the umbrella organization of
five educational associations in the country, namely the
Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU),
Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP),
Association of Christian Schools Colleges and Universities (ACSCU),
Technical Vocational Schools Association of the Philippines (TEVSAPHIL)
and the Philippine Association of Private Schools Colleges and
Universities (PAPSCU).
At a press conference in Club Filipino
Wednesday, Cocopea said its members reject the implementation of
CMO 5 for the following reasons: no public hearings were
conducted on the new policy; the new nursing curriculum will
unduly burden nursing students with more than 28 additional
units and three summers of further studies; the required
learning experience (RLE) was increased by 561 hours or 11 units
from the present 2,142 hours; and additional nursing subjects
were included in the first two years, replacing General
Education subjects.
Fr. Joel Tabora SJ, CEAP regional director
and Ateneo de Naga president, who called the CHED directive "a
disastrous policy," said it will "make us choppy and force
students to drop out and to corrupt.''
He said that instead of the current 79 units
taken up by first year nursing students, the new guidelines will
require students to take up 93 units in 2,632 hours.
"Legally speaking, there is a defect in
implementing the new proposed policies since these did not go
through a genuine public hearing. We are appealing to CHED to
suspend the implementation until we have considered in depth and
at length how we can truly improve the quantity and quality of
the nurses we educate,'' said Fr. Rod Salazar Jr. SVD, Cocopea
chair and CEAP president.
The difficulties of finding suitable
hospitals and places for RLE will also aggravate the logistical
problem of schools once CMO 5 is enforced, added Salazar. He
said there are not enough hospitals for the required clinical
hours.
He also said there is a possibility that the
nursing students in private colleges will decrease. "We have
barely two months to go before the academic year will start and
we, as heads of our respective institutions and educational
associations, feel that the implications of the proposed changes
in curriculum are too heavy for our educational system to
implement this soon,'' said Salazar.
He said he has already written CHED chair
Romulo Neri requesting the immediate suspension of the new
curriculum. If CHED balks, he said Cocopea will use all possible
legal remedies, and they might even ask President Arroyo to
intervene on the matter.
Asked for comment, CHED's Neri referred questions to
executive director William Medrano who was reported to be out of
town although another CHED official who declined to be named
said Medrano was "around" but does not want to comment on the
Cocopea's appeal. - Ashzel Hachero
