2006 Nursing Exam Scandal:
Can Exam Retake Erase The Shame?

by Pepper Marcelo

CHEATING in elections, rigging of government contacts, faking passports, diplomas and land tiles. The list of fake and fraudulent activities goes on and on. Now comes the nursing board exam scandal last year which threatens to permanently tarnish the image of Filipino nurses and put under heavy cloud the integrity of the country’s nursing board examinations.

Viewed by many as yet another manifestation of the rampant corruption obtaining in the country, the leakage of the board exam questions has jeopardized the careers of thousands of would-be nurses and the status of the Philippines as the world’s top producer of nurses.

US recruiters have been turning away Filipino nurses who participated in the tainted June 2006 Nursing Licensure Examinations (NLE). Questions also linger regarding the integrity of past nursing board tests.

The scandal broke out last year immediately following the NLE administered by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC), wherein 17,800 of 42,000 nursing examinees passed. Reports began circulating that answers were passed off or leaked to selected students before the exam. Specifically, some 500 questions in two portions (Tests III and V) of the exam were distributed, supposedly by two review centers based in Baguio City.

After the exams, a group of examinees filed a complaint against members of the Board of Nursing (BON). They said the leakage had tainted the results of the test and put under question the qualifications of those who passed. The PRC conducted an independent investigation and discovered that two members of the BON did in fact copy and distribute test question manuscripts to the enrollees of the Gapuz, INRESS, and Pentagon nursing review centers.

To resolve the situation, the PRC decided to “recompute” the grades whereby the results of untainted Tests I, II, and IV would be combined and averaged into a new, probable result for tainted Tests III and V, thus rendering the need for a retake unnecessary. This decision provoked objections from some nursing students and their families, nursing schools and organizations. Those who wanted the retake the exam said it was the only way to erase the stigma on the competence of the nursing examinees; while those against a retake complained of the added expenses and delay in the issuance of nursing licenses.

The Office of the President initially ordered everyone to retake the test but later rescinded it. Frustrated by the pace of the government's response, a group of nursing organizations and students petitioned the Court of Appeals (CA) to throw out the commission's recomputation and order a retake. The CA ordered a “selective retake” of the test, wherein 1,687 students that had attended the review centers where the questions and answers were divulged would have to retake the examination, but those who had not attended those centers and had passed the examination would be immediately awarded their nursing licenses. The complainants criticized the decision, stating that a partial retake would not go far enough. It was imperative that all examinees retake the test because “there's no other way to redeem the credibility,” says Marco Antonia Sto. Tomas, vice-president of the Association of Deans of Philippine Colleges of Nursing.

Meanwhile the US-based Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) waited and observed how the Philippine government would resolve the controversy. It urged the government to provide an opportunity for students to retake the compromised test parts. But due to the prolonged process to make a proper decision, the CGFNS came up with its own formula to address the issue. It required the examinees who wish to attain Visa Screen certificates – necessary for those seeking immigration status when they apply for US employment and take the National Council Licensure Examinations (NCLEX) – will have to retake the leaked portions of the board exams.

The issue was settled but not without damage to the reputation of the nursing profession at home and abroad. “It took an international body to tell us that there was something wrong with the exam,” says Attorney Pia Bersamin, who represented faculty and students of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) who favored and petitioned for a retake.

Maria Grace Lacanaria, nursing school dean of the St. Louis University in Baguio, said: “The president of the Philippine Nurses Association in the US already warned that a work ban is the likely consequence if the government continues to stall. This was the reason we worked strongly to have everyone who took the June (2006) exam to repeat the tainted sets of examinations.”

The expenses of the retake will be shouldered by the Philippine government, with President Macapagal-Arroyo ordering an allocation of PhP20 million for the special review of the voluntary examinees.

Some 10,000 nursing graduates are undergoing review classes to retake tainted sections of the exam. The Department of Labor and Employment and the Association of Deans of Philippine Colleges of Nursing (ADPCN) agreed to accept applications and provide one-week special review sessions to any of the 17,000 nursing board passers who want to retake the exam. The partial retake of the tests will be conducted together with the regularly-scheduled June and December NLE this year.

Concerned quarters maintain that the next step should be to punish the culprits --the review centers that leaked the answers. Currently, there are 420 nursing review centers in the country, many of which are in the PRC’s list of undesirables.

According to Bersamin, the cases against three review centers implicated in the leakage are still pending. “You have to understand these review centers are not educational institutions, but are businesses,” she said. “They fall under the Department of Trade and Industry and not the Department of Education, which is wrong, and something should be done about it. They’re popping up, and you don’t know the quality.” Students reportedly pay up to Php40,000 to attend these review classes.

The administrative cases against the erring review centers are still pending with the PRC while the criminal complaints have been submitted to the Department of Justice. “We’re appealing to congressmen and senators for proper legislation to control the review centers and the schools,” said Bersamin.

Bersamin’s group is assisting the PRC in convincing examinees to help in the prosecution of the cases. “Some of them are afraid,” she says. “Aside from the nursing profession as a whole, they are the ones who were directly affected. They should fight for the damage done to them by these people.”

If you have any feedback, reaction or comment about the article, please email buzzwordmedia@yahoo.com.