The recruitment sector on Monday backed the planned closure of non-performing nursing schools convinced that this contributed much to the unemployment of half a million nurses in the country.

“The recruitment sector has consistently been asking for the rationalization of over 1,000 nursing schools which have contributed to the half-million jobless nurses, half of them board-passers and nowhere to go except to other jobs like call centers, sales persons, hotel or the service industry,” Emmanuel Geslani, recruitment consultant, said.

Each year, he said, more than 60,000 board-passers join the labor market which can only accommodate 5,000 new nurses not to mention that only 15,000 can work abroad especially in the Middle East countries where there is an acute shortage of nurses. (Leslie Ann G. Aquino)