CHEd asks Philippine maritime schools to phase out substandard courses

MANILA, Philippines—Maritime schools that continue to defy government orders to close down substandard training programs are putting all Filipino seafarers in danger of being banned from European Union (EU) member flagged vessels.

“We expect we will be prepared for the visits in October. We expect possibly less institutions to be visited because those we ordered for closure will not be there,” Licuanan said.
She said CHEd has taken steps to add more assessors after the EMSA team observed that 91 maritime schools can not properly be monitored if CHEd had only two to five full-time staff members.
“That’s a legitimate point so we’re doing catch up, we’re getting other personnel from other CHEd offices,” Licuanan said.

She said the EMSA team also observed that having assessors come from the industry or the academe might lead to a conflict of interest.

Licuanan said she explained that experts have been coming from the industry or the academe, since there is no separate profession for assessors.

“We’re in a better position because we know exactly which are the observed weaknesses,” Licuanan said.
“We will cooperate with whatever it takes. There’s no more turfing,” she added. Read the full article at this Link Philippine Inquirer  http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/414199/ched-asks-maritime-schools-to-phase-out-substandard-courses