Iloilo City school to cease operations after 52 years

Iloilo. INQUIRER FILES

ILOILO CITY — One of the city’s oldest basic education schools will be closing down by the end of the current academic year due to financial losses and a continued drop in enrollment.

In a letter to stakeholders, parents, teachers, learners, and alumni dated Feb. 15, Maria Lourdes Josefina Garcia, owner of St. Joseph School Iloilo, announced the institution’s permanent closure by the end of school year 2023-2024.

Garcia cited “insurmountable financial losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent continuing decrease in enrollments as the reasons” behind the decision to cease operations.

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The 52-year-old private school is located along Diversion Road in Barangay San Rafael Mandurriao district.

Garcia and her husband Roberto started the St. Joseph Kinder School in 1972.

It had 40 students, three teachers, and one office staff member.

The school eventually expanded as it opened its elementary education in 1986 and high school in 2002.

It was envisioned as a non-profit institution and “a center for holistic learning” by Garcia.

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Garcia said that her three children had reservations of having to continue the school’s operation in the future.

But as an educator, she went on to run the school.

The St. Joseph School Iloilo was known for its students who had been representing the country in international academic competitions.

Last year, one of its students, Gihun Yoo, won Bronze in the Heat Round of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Mathematical Olympiad 2023.