EDITORIAL - Board exams should remain

Contradicting earlier reports, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said he did not call for the outright abolition of board examinations for nurses and other professions, but merely said the different government agencies should study if scrapping board exams is viable.

“I’m not proposing. My proposal is for the Philippine Nurses Association and Professional Regulation Commission to study the possibility, so I did not propose for the scrapping,” Bello was quoted as saying in a news report online.

It’s fine if he backtracks, the idea is still there and it actually has merits.

There will be those who will agree, pointing out that board exams can be disadvantageous to some people, especially those who are far removed from the regional centers where they are held and who practically have to spend a fortune just going to the capital to take the exam.

They may also reason that they have studied the subject matter for years and passed various tests conducted on the subject matter. So why the need for another huge test that can ultimately decide if they pass or fail?

Others may also say that there are others professions that really don’t require its practitioners to take a board exam, so why should they be required to pass one for their own?

We agree on some of their points, but board exams should be here to stay. There is a need to make sure that some people who enter certain professions really have a solid grasp of what they are doing.

For example the professions of nursing and doctoring. These are professions that require people to really know what they are doing. Any mistake made can result in injury at best, death at worst.

Lawyering can also be another example. A lawyer who isn’t well-versed with the profession can send his or her client to jail.

Teachers who aren’t really qualified to teach can be disastrous for our youth. Electrical engineers and architects whose skills and knowledge are not up to standards can wreak even more havoc.

We are not saying that professionals who have taken and passed board exams are not prone to errors, or that they will not make mistakes. However, taking and passing a board exam can prove that they have mastered the basic competencies their job requires.

Until and unless there are other ways to make sure some people have become really well-versed in what they aspire to be doing, board exams should be here to stay.