Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Sunday, July 17 lauded the decision of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to lift its 11-year-old moratorium prohibiting colleges and universities from offering undergraduate nursing programs.

Escudero said he is confident said the lifting of the ban will help increase the number of medical frontliners in the country in case of another global health crisis in the future.

The returning senator is the incoming chair of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education.

“I welcome the decision of the CHEd led by Chairman Prospero de Vera III to finally allow all higher education institutions (HEIs) to offer nursing courses. It is really about time, especially with the lessons learned from our handling of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Escudero pointed out.

Escudero noted the lack of nurses, other health care workers during the height of the pandemic was a huge challenge for the government. 

“We are still in a pandemic and we will be needing more medical workers. That is why we have to start rebuilding our workforce now so we don’t have to go through the same harrowing experience should another health crisis comes,” he added.

De Vera, last July 13, announced that the institution has decided en banc to lift the ban after a “very thorough review based on an exhaustive discussion.”

HEIs were now allowed to submit their applications to CHEd following the announcement.

It was in 2011, during the administration of President Benigno C. Aquino III, when CHEd imposed the moratorium due to, among others, the oversupply of nursing graduates with over 200,000 unemployed nurses.

“This moratorium, which was, imposed in 2011 has been reviewed at the height of the pandemic when there were calls to lift the moratorium on nursing because of the perceived lack of nurses especially at the height of COVID,” said De Vera on Wednesday.

Aside from the perceived lack of healthcare workers, CHEd also lifted the ban due to unequal distribution of HEIs offering nursing programs across the country’s regions.

The returning senator said he intends to look at the current state of the country’s higher education when he assumes the chairmanship of the panel when the 19th Congress formally opens on July 25.

“Ating pagtutuunan ng pansin ang mga panukalang batas na naglalayong mapatatag pa nang husto ang edukasyon sa bansa (I will look into proposed laws that seek to strengthen our education sector). But we have to ensure that any reform we will have to initiate would be doable and sustainable in the long run,” he stressed.