THE PROFESSIONAL Regulatory Commission (PRC) has denied that there was a leak of test questions in this month’s nursing board exams.

In a statement to the Inquirer on Tuesday, the PRC also invited witnesses to the supposed leakage to surface and formally file their statements with the commission, adding that it had yet to receive a formal complaint on the issue.

The PRC also said that “after an initial investigation by the Board of Nursing, the BON concluded there was no apparent leakage.”

It said the examination system “had been so streamlined that leakages are now a thing of the past.”

The last nursing board exam was administered nationwide on June 11 and 12. The exams are given twice a year in June and December.

Rumors and a TV news report said the leakage was traced to a review center in Baguio City. An examinee, who refused to identify herself and who hid her face from the cameras, claimed the review center gave out test questions.

“On television, the witness hid her identity making it impossible for the PRC to establish whether or not she was a real examinee,” the statement said.

“Unless hard evidence is found, the system is nearly fool-proof. With the actual test questions extracted by computer from a database of questions, even the examiners do not know beforehand which of their questions will be asked in the examinations. The test questions are printed inside a quarantined area with security provided by police and the National Bureau of Investigation,” the PRC said.

The agency noted that “observers say that the reported leakage was the result of intense rivalry among review centers.”

The PRC said that contrary to rumors, it had not cancelled the exams but was now checking the results which are expected to be released next month.

“Compliance testing which is regularly done to determine the statistical probability of results will also be used after the corrections to establish the validity of the test,” the PRC said.

A review center, meanwhile, denied any involvement in the alleged leak.

In its own statement to the Inquirer, the R.A. Gapuz Review Center Inc. said: “While certain quarters have been maliciously spreading nasty and unfounded rumors about our alleged involvement, we have not received any formal complaint regarding the same. In fact, we are not aware that there was indeed a leakage. Thus, we object to these malicious imputations against our review center.”


Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer