By Dr. Rex Casiple
(Conclusion)
Six thousand eighty-six (6,086) out of 11,828 examinees nationwide, or 51.46%, passed in the Nurse Licensure Examination (NLE) given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Board of Nursing in the 15 testing centers in November 2021. This is lower than the July 2021 NLE performance of 64.6% passing percentage. IA Hanna Ballares Samillano of Riverside College, Bacolod City ranked number 4 and Albert Christian Longno Senador of Central Philippine University, Iloilo City ranked number 10 among the successful examinees who garnered the 10 highest places in the national level. The Central Philippine University is the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Autonomous higher education institution (HEI) in Western Visayas.
At the Regional level, 12 nursing schools out of 17, or 70.6%, performed high or with a passing percentage higher than that of the national level. This is higher than the July 2021 high-performing school percentage of 61.9%. The Region produced 254 passers out of 443 takers, or a 57.34% passing percentage. This is higher than the national passing percentage. 294 repeaters took the said examination and 149 first takers. Repeaters passing percentage is 44.22%, while the first takers passing percentage is 83.22%.
The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) recently released the results of the September 2021 Licensure Examinations for Teachers (LET) given in 26 testing centers nationwide. Four thousand eight hundred eighty-three (4,883) out of 8,726 or 55.96% passed in the LET – Elementary. Ten thousand three hundred eighteen (10,318) out of 17,863 or 57.76% passed in the LET-Secondary. The Western Visayas Region performed high in both LET – Elementary and LET-Secondary examinations, or with passing percentages higher than that of the national average.
In the top ten LET – Elementary successful examinees, Meldy Senayo Lubrico of Central Philippines State University-Victorias Campus (CPSU-Victorias) ranked number 10. In the top ten LET-Secondary successful examinees, Bryan Paul Landar Espinosa of Central Philippine University and Shenry Jun Antiza Esparagoza also of Central Philippine University ranked number 6 and number 10 respectively. While Karen Mallorca Gardose of West Visayas State University ranked number 9 in the said examination for Secondary Teachers.
In the LET – Elementary, 44 out of 64 higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Region, or 68.75% are high performing or with a passing average higher than that in the national level. Two hundred sixty-nine (269) out of 392 examinees in the Region, or 68.62%, passed the said examination. On the other hand, 696 out of 1,023 or 68.04% of the examinees from public and private HEIs in the Region passed in the LET – Secondary. Fifty-six (56) out of 86 HEIs in the Region or 65.12% are high performing.
In June 2021, the PRC announced that a total of 1,546 out of 2,337 examinees nationwide, or 66.15%, passed the Pharmacist Licensure Examination. In 90 schools nationwide, 1,397 out of 1,939, or 72.05% of the first takers passed. One hundred forty-nine (149) out of 398, or 37.44%, of the re-takers, passed. At the Regional level, 50% of the pharmacy schools performed high or with a passing percentage higher than that of the national level. The Region scored a 66.67% passing percentage. The first takers passing percentage is 100%. The repeaters passing percentage is 40%.
Finally based on the results of PRC board examinations in 2021, the board performance of schools in various disciplines dropped amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, except in Architecture, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET-Elementary and LET-Secondary). Likewise, the number of takers dropped. However in some board examinations, Region VI – Western Visayas produced top-performing schools and examinees. The Western Visayas Region performed high in licensure examinations of almost all disciplines.