THE country’s agriculture sector has reasons to celebrate with the coming into the field an additional 927 passers, 45 of which are from MMSU, in the 2017 Agriculturist Licensure Examination given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) in April. One of the MMSU passers, Charmaine Zamuco, even landed 7^th place.

The passers were among the 2,938 who took the test in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Pagadian, Tacloban, Tuguegarao and Zamboanga in April. That result gave MMSU a 42.86 percent passing rate, an 11.31 percent advantage over the national success rate of 31.55 percent.

In his report, Dean Artemio Alcoy of the College of Agriculture, Food and Sustainable Development said that of the 105 MMSU examinees, 93 were first timers while 12 were repeaters. Of the first timers, 41 passed, while four of the repeaters finally made it.

MMSU graduates have been consistently registering a higher passing mark than the national figure because of the Technical Enhancement Competency Program (TCEP) incorporated in the BS Agriculture curriculum where fourth year students are required to take two subjects of three units each – one in the first semester and another in the second semester – to enhance their competencies in preparation for their licensure examination.

Students who fail in these subjects are not able to graduate; hence not also able to take the licensure examination. In essence, the TCEP was conceived to intensify graduates’ readiness in their board examination. Aside from the TCEP, supplementary review classes were also conducted by the College to better prepare the examinees. (By Patricia R. Reyes)