CHED warns sub-standard schools
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chair Dr. Emmanuel Angeles on Thursday warned higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country to undertake measures to improve their quality of education.
Angeles said the Commission will continue its campaign against sub-standard schools.
He said public and private HEIs, as well as local universities and colleges (LUC), will be the subject of scrutiny and audit by the Commission.
“Programs offered by private HEIs, state universities and colleges as well as LUCs are now undergoing strict scrutiny and streamlining to improve the performance of graduates in the licensure examinations administered by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC),” Angeles said.
CHED data showed there are about 1,741 HEIs in the country today, including 110 SUCs, 1,538 private institutions and 77 LUCs.
To underline the “get tough” approach on sub-standard schools and “diploma mills,” the CHED has decided to phased-out law programs in six colleges namely —Eastern Samar State University, Polytechnic College of La Union, Samar College, Ramon Magsaysay Technological University, Southern Bicol College and Abra Valley College— starting next school year after they were identified to have consistently rate zero in Bar exams in the past 10 years (1999-2009).
Five others have voluntarily closed down their law offerings, CHED says.
Earlier, Angeles said in a seven-year period (2001-2008), the number of flunkers in PRC-administered licensure exams exceeded the number of board passers by as much as 1.42 million or about 64 percent. Only 808,884 (36.35 percent) out of the 2,225,571 examinees for the period has passed the test.
The problem, he said, is compounded by the fact that of the existing 1,741 HEIs in the country, only 50 or three percent have good facilities.
To resolve the problem, CHED said it has allocated funding for the evaluation of HEIs across the country.
About 16,000 programs are being offered in the various HEIs, it added.
“A reasonable amount of the CHED budget has been earmarked especially for the monitoring of the performance of the HEIs,” Angeles stressed.
“With additional funds, CHED can tap more experts to assist in monitoring, evaluation and enforcement of standards to ensure that the programs they are offering are on par with the rest of the world,” he added.
Plans called for monitoring and targeting an average of 12 HEIs every year.
Education experts said CHED needs about P160 million to be able to monitor and enforce the standards. (PNA)