School leaders recognized at 6th Excellence in Educational Transformation Awards

MANILA, Philippines —  Separated by more than 600 kilometers of land and sea, Alabat Island National High School in Quezon Province and Tisa II Elementary School in Cebu have little in common  — except for their visionary principals who believed that the schools can do more.

Alabat Island National High School principal Gregorio Racelis implemented a comprehensive values-based program that ultimately increased the National Achievement Test mean percentage score by more than 20 percent  over a span of six years.

Meanwhile, Tisa II Elementary School principal Maricon Gumba rallied her master teachers to influence institutional change, fixing the physical deterioration of the school, revitalizing programs such as Brigada Eskwela, and developing her own initiatives that led to academic transformation.

Alabat Island National High School and Tisa II Elementary School are two of the seven schools across the Philippines that were recognized by Bayan Academy during the 6th Excellence in Education Transformation Awards recently at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel.

The awards this year were selected based on exceptional innovation in the field of strategic human resource management.

The awardees were:

1. Alabat Island National High School, Alabat, Quezon (Most Transformative School for Learning Effectiveness and School Efficiency Award);

2. Tisa II Elementary School, Cebu City (Innovations in Learning Environment – Learning Spaces and Places and Innovations in Access to Education);

3. Palusapis Integrated School, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija (Innovations in Quality Education – Curriculum Design and Development and Learning Methodologies and Delivery Systems for Learning Effectiveness);

4. Babag National High School, Lapu-Lapu City (Innovations in Learning Environment – Child Safety, Security and Sensitivity);

5 Schools Division of Quezon, Quezon Province (Innovations in Leadership, Governance and Management – Institutional Leadership and Direction Setting);

6. Colegio de San Juan de Letran – Basic Education, Intramuros, Manila (Innovations in Quality Education – Learning Methodologies and Delivery Systems for Learning Effectiveness); and

7. University of Santo Tomas Senior High School, Sampaloc, Manila (Innovations in Quality Education – Education for the 21st Century).