Lessons of success from Iloilo school

ILOILO CITY—The country’s first provincial high school had only five graduates when it held its first commencement exercises in 1908, six years after its founding in 1902.

Over a century later, 855 graduates from the regular class and special schools of Iloilo National High School (INHS) proudly went up on stage to receive their diplomas during the graduation rites on March 29.

INHS has also produced Iloilo’s public and civil servants, as well as a number of professionals. Among them were Brig. Gen. Ramona Palabrica Go (Class 1973), the first female general in the Philippine Army’s 114-year history, and Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. (Class 1973).

Go was the commencement speaker during the graduation rites while Defensor was the inspirational speaker.

Formerly called Iloilo High School (IHS), INHS was intended to be a “normal school” to train high school graduates to become teachers who would be assigned to other parts of Western Visayas, according to a doctoral dissertation of Riza S. Amaguin, who served as  INHS principal from 1980 to 1999.

Teachers’ college

Known as teachers’ colleges in some countries, the normal school, according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, was so named because its purpose was to establish teaching standards or “norms.”

Amaguin described the status of the high school as a normal school in 1908 as “untenable” because only a few students were prepared to take subjects that would equip them with the knowledge and methods to become teachers.

The first principals were American teachers or Thomasites. IHS then was housed in a two-story building, across the street from the Capitol, now occupied by Iloilo Casa Plaza.

In 1906, the school transferred to a 5-hectare land at La Paz District. The land was donated by Don Francisco Jalandoni, a soldier and philanthropist.

The growing years of the school (1909 to 1940) were marked by a decline in enrollment, not because of indifference from students. Since the country at that time was being rebuilt, there was a great demand for teachers in the elementary level and government positions.

No one graduated during school year 1909-1910 since students following the first batch of 1908 were three years behind in scholastic standing. Those immediately succeeding the first batch were deployed to teach in public schools in the interior towns.

The next graduation was only in 1912 with nine graduates.

In her dissertation, Amaguin described 1941 to 1944 as the “dark years” because many male students were drafted as soldiers to fight the Japanese soldiers during World War II. Only 288 out of 1,000 seniors graduated in a two-month refresher course in 1945.

During the “Period of Adjustment” from 1947 to 1979, students had to make do with “the frameworks of the school buildings that were bullet-scarred” and had to hold classes at the nearby Iloilo School of Arts and Trades.

But from 1980 to 1981, IHS mirrored the unrest of the people who were fighting the Marcos dictatorship.

Teachers, who complained of low and delayed salaries, held a sit-down strike. They demanded the conversion of IHS into a national school, but this was practically ignored by the provincial government “for sentimental reasons.”

The legislators stepped in and moved for the conversion of IHS into INHS in 1983.

Problems

But the school suffered problems related to being a national high school. These included lack of capital outlay for new school buildings and library resources.

Budget for maintenance and operations was not enough to meet operating expenses, while other requests were not immediately approved by the Department of Budget and Management.

Still, INHS has reaped accolades, especially for its “schools within a school” program—special classes for specific areas, such as science, arts, sports, performing arts and even for   adult and nonformal education.

In 2000, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Science Education Institute adjudged INHS as “Model Secondary School of the Philippines.”

The next year, it was named “Most Effective Secondary School of the Philippines” by the Department of Education.

Many of Iloilo province’s local officials are products of INHS.

When the DOST evaluated the school in 2002, it found four factors that make things happen at INHS: the principal’s proactive leadership and hands-on management, the teachers’ competence and commitment, the students’ drive for excellence and community esprit de corps.

Other public schools should learn from INHS experiences.