Sagada's St. Mary's High is Mtn. Province's Best

Sagada's St. Mary's High School topped the National Achievement Test besting 58 private and public schools in Cordillera region's Mountain Province. It was the second year in a row that Sagada's only private high school took top honors, beating other high schools in bigger towns such as Bontoc, Besao and Tadian. Lubon National High School in Tadian placed second while Guinzadan National High School in Bauko placed third. Three other schools in Sagada placed in the top 20 with Sagada National High School, Banga-an National High School and Antadao National High School ranking 14th, 17th, and 18th respectively.

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