DOLE: Results of 'retaken' nursing exam due in 3 weeks

Some 11,000 nursing graduates affected by last year's nursing licensure exam leakage are to retake the licensure exams on Monday, and may find out how they fared in as little as three weeks. Labor secretary Arturo Brion made this estimate Saturday night, saying he and the Board of Nursing (BON) chairman will jointly release the results of the retake. In a statement posted on the Labor Department website (www.dole.gov.ph), Brion also said he will personally monitor the conduct of the retake on Monday. Brion said he will leave Monday evening for the International Labor Conference (ILC) in Geneva. The Philippines is the head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) group in this year's ILC. Also during the retake, Brion said four lawyers hired by the US-based Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) will observe the conduct of the tests for the retakers at testing centers in Manila, Baguio City, Cebu and Davao. "These observers will be guided closely by the DOLE and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC)," he said. Earlier, CGFNS came out with a policy limiting the issuance of visas only to Filipino 2006 nursing board passers who took and passed a retake of the nursing licensure tests particularly Tests 3 and 5. This prompted the DOLE to offer the voluntary retake of Test 3 and 5 of the June 2006 Nursing Exam in coordination with the BON.- GMANews.TV