COMMISSION on Higher Education Chairman Prospero De Vera III disputed the claim of an official of the Professional Regulation Commission that the low passing rate in the licensure exams for teachers was due to the ‘open enrollment’ system.

De Vera said the statement of Rosita Navarro, chairperson of the PRC’s Board for Professional Teachers was ‘unacceptable.’

“I find that unacceptable because we are assuming that a student, when he enters a higher education institution, will not improve anymore through the four years that they go through a teacher training program,” he said.

De Vera added that aspiring teachers are admitted to higher educational institutions not based on their grades in high school but on the results of their admission exams.

“What happens after that are now governed by individual policies of universities. Some universities have higher requirements on teacher education, depending on the slots available in teacher education,” he said.

He suggested launching a study to determine the quality of education courses offered by colleges and universities.