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‘Nursing program should also be given importance’
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Posted on Aug 09 2004
CNMI Scholarship Office board chair Roman Benavente said equal weight must also be given to nursing—not just teacher and police programs—to address the lack of personnel in essential services in the CNMI.
Benavente made the comment following the House Committee on Education’s move to extend for another five years the soon-to-expire postsecondary teacher education program.
“I have no problem with that but what I want to see is that kind of interest for the nursing program to encourage our students to take up nursing and address the shortage [of nurses] in the Commonwealth,” said Benavente, who is also chair of the Board of Education.
The House Committee on Education has recommended the extension of the teacher scholarship program, which expires on Sept. 3, acknowledging that the government must continue building up its pool of local teachers.
The scholarship program aims to encourage more CNMI scholars to take up education and work as teachers in CNMI schools.
The House has also moved to allocate over $24,000 in unclaimed lottery prizes for the teacher education program.
A bill was also introduced providing that all unclaimed prizes shall be deposited in the postsecondary teacher education program scholarship account, to be created by the Secretary of Finance.
Benavente said the teacher program has been successful in that more local teachers are now part of the Public School System.
“The teacher academy is really effective but let’s not forget the other requirement for nurses and even police. With [the] police, we already have this police academy,” he said.
Benavente said his office supports the Department of Health’s proposal for the creation of a nursing academy that would provide scholarships to students taking up nursing or health-related academic programs.
“We continue to meet with DPH Secretary [James U.] Hofschneider on that issue,” he said.
The government hospital began to directly hire nonresident nurses this year to address a shortage in its nursing staff. This has prompted some local nurses to complain over “discrimination” in terms of salary packages.
Local nurses said that while they are not against the foreign-hired nursing staff, they cannot settle for a lower pay rate.
