"A mandatory retake of the nursing examination to address the alleged cheating in the last nursing exam is not the answer" to the controversy, said AUF chancellor Dr. Emmanuel Angeles.
Angeles, who is also an educator, pointed to "those unscrupulous individuals out to profit from the hapless nurses" as the "culprits."
"I believe that all of those who took the exam didn’t want to cheat, much less to malign the reputation of the Filipino nurses," he said.
Angeles cited as an example AUF as among those that did not benefit from the alleged leak in the June 2006 nursing board exam.
"Our students conducted the review within the premises of the university and AUF does not, as a matter of practice, include the INRESS Review Center which is the alleged source of the nursing leak. Thus, we declare that our nursing students are neither party to any fraud nor have they benefited from such," he stressed.
"Apparently, only a small minority of the 42,006 examinees who took the said examinations and the 17,821 who passed it — specifically those from Baguio and Manila — actually benefited from the said leakage," he added.
Angeles said the AUF situation is similar to the experience of most established nursing schools whose passing rates have remained consistently high in the past due to their high academic standards.
"These established nursing schools, AUF included, comprise the silent majority of schools which do not have to resort to fraud and leakage to assure that their students pass in the licensure examinations and thus, would be greatly prejudiced by a retake of the nursing licensure examinations," he said.
In the letter to the President, Angeles proposed a retake of the exams by nursing graduates connected with INRESS review center.
"We propose a retake by the individuals who were connected with the INRESS Review Center, either by enrollment therein or by the employment of reviewers therefrom. Only tests 3 and 5, which are the subject of controversy, should be re-tested," said Angeles, former president and chief executive officer of the state-owned Clark Development Corp. and a member of the Consultative Commission on Charter Change.
Angeles also proposed "those who passed the examination but are willing to retake it should be allowed to do so voluntarily."
"In such a case, the result of the examination, whether it is higher or lower than previously graded, shall be amended accordingly and the overall rankings of all examinees shall be based on the amended results," he said.
Angeles said AUF supports "the move to prosecute members of the Nursing Board of Examiners and/or reviewers or other individuals who are alleged to have taken part in the leak."
"We will support any future legislation that would impose criminal and administrative sanctions against individuals or groups who perpetrate similar fraudulent actions in any licensure examination," he added.
"We will also support any measure to prevent the possibility of similar fraudulent actions in any licensure examination specifically preventing members of the Nursing Board of Examiners from having vested interests in nursing review centers," he said.
Angeles said of AUF’s 306 nursing graduates who passed the board, two landed in ninth place. AUF’s nursing graduates stressed: "We did not cheat. Save the innocents and punish the guilty."
In a statement, the AUF graduates however expressed support for a non-mandatory retake of the exams. — Ding Cervantes