61% of Tamale student nurses fail exams

Information reaching the Northern File indicates that an estimated 61 per cent of final year students who sat for the 2008/2009 Nurses and Midwives Council final exam, from the Tamale Nurses Training College (NTC), failed woefully.

The institution, which presented about 300 students/candidates for the 2008/2009 academic year Nurses and Midwives Council final exam, had only 130 passing, representing 39%, while 61% failed woefully, to the shock of the authorities of the NTC, a college that is still struggling for survival, due to the lack of resources and other basic logistics.

The college, which has a record of outrageous and massive failure in the final exams in previous years the Northern File learnt, has never been able to attain a 50% pass, since its inception in 1974.

Enquiries at the Academic Department of the school revealed that in the 2007/08 academic year, about 180 students were presented for the examination, but less than 50 passed, while the previous year recorded a lesser percentage of pass candidates.

The File investigations revealed that though students' performance in the final exam was not the most excellent than in previous years, this was the worst in the history of the school, with most of them failing in the practicals aspect.

In all, the students write about eight subjects, including practical subjects, and upon successful completion, become full-fledged members of the Nurses and Midwives Council (NMC), and are accepted as State Registered Nurses (SRN), under the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

The 61% failures, this reporter learnt, would have to rewrite the referred or failed papers, but while waiting, they would be assigned to various wards at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, and other health facilities in the region.

The college, until now, has not been given accreditation, and as a result has not held any matriculation or congregation for its students.

The bad conduct of the students towards studies, sources say, accounted for the failures, as most students are often seen, during productive hours, loitering in town in uniforms, instead of being in school learning.

When contacted, the Principal of the College, Sayimah Kombian, admitted the mass failure of students in their professional final exam, and stated that it was undesirable.

He declared that his office was yet to investigate the cause, since the results were not a true reflection of the tuition and preparations the out-gone students had been given.