LABOR Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Thursday clarified that he wants relevant agencies to study if licensure examinations are needed before someone can enter a certain profession.

He made the remarks after he raised the possibility of abolishing licensure exams for law and nursing professions.

“My proposal is for the Philippine Nurses Association and Professional Regulation Commission to study it. I didn’t propose scrapping,” Bello said.

“I’m not proposing to scrap, I’m proposing especially to the Philippine Nurses Association and Board of Nursing to study and that applies to others, such as Board of Engineering na pag-aralan nilang mabuti,” he added.

Bello said that the majority of nursing students come from poor to middle-income households and the expense of studying for the board exam is an added financial burden to them.

On Wednesday, Bello asked officials of the Philippine Nurses Association and the Board of Nursing to recommend that board exams be waived for nurses, arguing that they have taken enough tests as students.

The labor chief also believed that exams for aspiring lawyers should be abolished, claiming that those who top the Bar are not always good in the practice of law.