Sagada's St. Mary's High is Mtn. Province's Best
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
This achievement is being credited by school officials to an implementation of a 6-year high school program that began in 2006. In an ABS-CBN report titled "K+12: The Sagada Experience", St. Mary's School of Sagada Principal Dennis Faustino said - "We topped the National Achievement Test twice in a row, including this year. The methodology is sound, my philosophy is sound, our teachers are doing a good job and it can be emulated across the country. I don't buy the excuse that [it's because] we are private school. I think it's just the ability to reach out to the kids and understand them and see how they respond to positive teaching".
Faustino and other St. Mary's school officials support the government's plan to lengthen the current 4-year high school standard in the Philippines to that of a 6-year program that is in line with international standards. Majority of Asian countries including India, a top supplier of doctors, nurses, and IT professionals to the United States, implement a longer secondary school system.
Personally, for the 6-year program to work in our country's school system, it has to be implemented properly. It's useless adding two additional years in high school without any specialization of some kind. It would be good to see the added years as a means for high school students to learn a specific skill that will allow them to be employable after high school. If, after high school, they would want to pursue further education, the additional two years of education would definitely make them very competitive in the international market.
Related Links:
K+12: The Sagada Experience, by Caroline J. Howard, ABS-CBNnews.com
Saint Mary's School of Sagada Read more...
In a recent Manila Bulletin article, the Department of Tourism (DOT) in the Philippine Cordillera region indicated that Sagada's hanging coffins and limestone caves are amongst the region's popular tourist attractions. Sagada was the only town mentioned from Mountain Province. Other attractions of note are the city of Baguio, the Banaue rice terraces, white water rafting in Kalinga, the strawberry and flower farms in La Trinidad, Benguet, the mummies at Benguet's Kabayan caves, and trekking to the Philippines' second highest peak - Mount Pulag. The list of foreign tourist arrivals in the past years are topped by those from European countries. Other foreign visitors come from the USA, Russia, China, Korea, Japan and Germany.
Dr. Dennis Faustino, an adopted i-Sagada is featured in Inquirer's "An accidental tourist gives back to Sagada". The article described how Dr. Faustino first visited Sagada and how the former school administrator at the International School in Makati eventually became a principal of Sagada's St. Mary's School. I last saw him on my last visit to Sagada in November 2007 - during the 1st death anniversary of my aunt. He kindly offered to give my mother and I a lift from Nangonogan to Dagdag. What's interesting is his new Sagada project - he and his staff are preparing to stage another musical, “Fiddler on the Roof” in Kankana-ey with the working title “Mengasa id Atep” (A Gangsa Player on a Thatched Roof). This version retains the original’s melodies and storyline but is adapted to the local culture. It would be a treat to watch this as he has done great work in Sagada's community musicals in the past. Too bad it wouldn't be possible for me at this time. Photo Credit and Article Link at 
Posts
