Nursing committee up for revamp
Nursing committee up for revamp
By Florante S. Solmerin
The Commission on Higher Education will replace next week the seven members of the technical committee on nursing education who have resigned over claims that the agency has “surrendered itself to vested political and business interests.”
“We assure the public that the next committee will be well represented and will include representatives of smaller schools,” said Dr. Carlito Puno, commission chairman.
“We in the commission are raising the issue of broad representation which they [former committee members] didn’t like,” added Puno, who brushed aside the allegations.
He said the new committee, which is tasked to provide technical advice to the commission on how to raise the quality of nursing education in the country, would be more “representative.”
This is in contrast to the composition of the old committee, whose members, particularly those who resigned, were from Metro Manila, Puno said.
“Because of this, CHED was being criticized for this imbalance. Then we have to make the representation broader. I assure you, their resignation will not have an adverse effect on quality of nursing education,” he added.
Dr. Marilyn Lorenzo, former chairman of the committee, said she doubted the new committee or the commission would be able to stem the decline of the quality of nursing education.
“It really depends on who they get. We have to see. But following their [CHED] line of thinking, I don’t think they will continue the policies we started. It will be hard to reverse our policies, but they will try,” Lorenzo said.
She stood pat on her resigned colleagues opinion that the agency “has surrendered to political and business interests” which was why the quality of nursing education had gone down over the years.
“I hope the new members will be credible and incorruptible. We also hope they can remain independent and really push for quality. But if they put in people with vested interests, it would be very difficult,” Lorenzo said.
In their resignation letter, Lorenzo and other members of the old committee accused the commission of lacking the will to assure quality nursing education.
“Instead, the agency has buckled down to pressure from vested political and economic interests, sacrificing quality for mediocrity and business interests,” they said.
They also criticized the agency’s plan to appoint school owners to the committee, saying this was tantamount to “conflict of interest.”
Aside from Lorenzo, director of the Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies, other members of the old committee include Carmelita Divinagracia, Remedios Fernandez, Amelia Rosales, Zylma Sanchez, Glenda Vargas, and Rita Tamse.
Puno maintained that the appointment of Dr. George Cordero of the Manila-based Philippine College of Health Sciences and president of the Philippine Nurses Association, to the technical committee was not a conflict of interest.
“The position of CHED is that [in] the composition of the membership of all technical committees, school owners and presidents of professional associations should be represented since they are also stakeholders,” Puno clarified.
He admitted, however, that Cordero’s appointment was deferred pending the completion of the short list of the new committee members.
Puno denied that the agency was bowing to political and business interests, saying he did not favor the proposal of closing down nursing programs or schools whose passing rates in the board examinations were less than 30 percent.
“Why should we not also consider other factors like quality of faculty, researches done, and facilities? We seem to be trigger happy and not developmental in our approach,” he said.
To solve this, Puno said the agency would allocate P1 billion in the next three years for faculty development programs for college courses, including nursing.
Manila Standard Today July 11, 2006 issue
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/ContentLoader?page=politics05_july11_2006
By Florante S. Solmerin
The Commission on Higher Education will replace next week the seven members of the technical committee on nursing education who have resigned over claims that the agency has “surrendered itself to vested political and business interests.”
“We assure the public that the next committee will be well represented and will include representatives of smaller schools,” said Dr. Carlito Puno, commission chairman.
“We in the commission are raising the issue of broad representation which they [former committee members] didn’t like,” added Puno, who brushed aside the allegations.
He said the new committee, which is tasked to provide technical advice to the commission on how to raise the quality of nursing education in the country, would be more “representative.”
This is in contrast to the composition of the old committee, whose members, particularly those who resigned, were from Metro Manila, Puno said.
“Because of this, CHED was being criticized for this imbalance. Then we have to make the representation broader. I assure you, their resignation will not have an adverse effect on quality of nursing education,” he added.
Dr. Marilyn Lorenzo, former chairman of the committee, said she doubted the new committee or the commission would be able to stem the decline of the quality of nursing education.
“It really depends on who they get. We have to see. But following their [CHED] line of thinking, I don’t think they will continue the policies we started. It will be hard to reverse our policies, but they will try,” Lorenzo said.
She stood pat on her resigned colleagues opinion that the agency “has surrendered to political and business interests” which was why the quality of nursing education had gone down over the years.
“I hope the new members will be credible and incorruptible. We also hope they can remain independent and really push for quality. But if they put in people with vested interests, it would be very difficult,” Lorenzo said.
In their resignation letter, Lorenzo and other members of the old committee accused the commission of lacking the will to assure quality nursing education.
“Instead, the agency has buckled down to pressure from vested political and economic interests, sacrificing quality for mediocrity and business interests,” they said.
They also criticized the agency’s plan to appoint school owners to the committee, saying this was tantamount to “conflict of interest.”
Aside from Lorenzo, director of the Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies, other members of the old committee include Carmelita Divinagracia, Remedios Fernandez, Amelia Rosales, Zylma Sanchez, Glenda Vargas, and Rita Tamse.
Puno maintained that the appointment of Dr. George Cordero of the Manila-based Philippine College of Health Sciences and president of the Philippine Nurses Association, to the technical committee was not a conflict of interest.
“The position of CHED is that [in] the composition of the membership of all technical committees, school owners and presidents of professional associations should be represented since they are also stakeholders,” Puno clarified.
He admitted, however, that Cordero’s appointment was deferred pending the completion of the short list of the new committee members.
Puno denied that the agency was bowing to political and business interests, saying he did not favor the proposal of closing down nursing programs or schools whose passing rates in the board examinations were less than 30 percent.
“Why should we not also consider other factors like quality of faculty, researches done, and facilities? We seem to be trigger happy and not developmental in our approach,” he said.
To solve this, Puno said the agency would allocate P1 billion in the next three years for faculty development programs for college courses, including nursing.
Manila Standard Today July 11, 2006 issue
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/ContentLoader?page=politics05_july11_2006
given: 1 billion peso budget
formula: 1 billion / X
where: X = development programs
solution: inappropriate budget allocation & dispersal
final answer = budget goes to politicians & administrators pockets...
its dat simple, kayang kaya nyo to, over twenty years na 'tong ginagawa eh... hahahahahahaha!
Posted by
Anonymous |
2:43 AM
you are 101% right!!!
simple rithmetic... bwahahaha
Posted by
Anonymous |
5:02 AM