DECREE OF THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT ELEVATING TO THE GRADE OF SUPERIOR THE NORMAL SCHOOL FOR MEN TEACHERS IN MANILA, AND APPROVING PROVISIONALLY THE NEW REGULATIONS OF THIS SCHOOL
Normal school of teachers:
Your Excellency:
The normal school for men teachers in Manila, established by virtue of the royal organic decree of December 20, 1863, for the purpose of being used as a seminary for men teachers fit to take charge of schools of primary instruction for the natives throughout the Philippine Archipelago, has been fulfilling, since its foundation, the difficult task committed to it by the government of his Majesty, filling the great space which was experienced in these remote provinces from the primitive times of the conquest. With the adoption of a system combining pedagogical instruction and education, at the same time that it has diffused, so far as has been possible, the use of the Castilian language, knowledge of evangelical truths, and the practice of Christian morals, it has propagated the germ of true civilization in all the islands, consolidating, with the most elementary principles of education, the civil life of the villages in their diverse relations in regard to the social organization, and especially with the diverse institutions which unite this archipelago with the mother country.
The immediate truths of that foundation are the greater facility of communication between the natives and the civil, military, ecclesiastical, governmental, judicial, and administrative authorities, and the greater development in the arts and industry, in agriculture and commerce, and in the participation of the natives in the profession of letters and of sciences, and in the exercise of authority and other subordinate charges in the different state offices. Such results have been preceded by an initial period of most laborious formation, for, although the normal school had to be ruled from the beginning by organic regulations adapted to the needs of the region and to the special circumstances of the time and of the individuals for whom it was founded, it had to limit its sphere of action to the most reduced horizons, in accordance with the remarkable state of imperfection and backwardness of the scholars entrusted to it, and of the little time allowable for their fitting instruction and education in the profession of teacher. The perfection of the normal teaching and of its regulation was left, therefore, for the provision of later supplementary orders. For, having seen the moral impossibility of its complete application, according to the ideal demanded of a perfect plan of pedagogical teaching, it had to be molded according to the pressing needs of the villages and to the lack of a staff fit to take charge from the beginning of all the schools of primary instruction in the archipelago.
The absolute lack of suitable men teachers, with actual experience in teaching, was the reason for the studies in the normal school being reduced in the earlier years to supplying hastily the first intellectual and moral needs of the villages. Those having been satisfied, the studies required in article 4 of the regulations for the acquisition of a teacher’s certificate of elementary instruction were completed in three years. But although the resident and day pupils had to be fully sixteen years old for admission into the normal school, it resulted that, since the majority of them came from provinces where they generally cease to attend school after the age of twelve, the few ideas which they had learned in those schools were already obliterated from their minds, especially the use and knowledge of Castilian. Consequently, in order that the pupils might study the branches suitable for the teaching profession with understanding of the authors of the textbook, and the explanations of the instructors, it was indispensable to cause said studies to be preceded by a preparatory year, in order that the legal qualifications of ability to pursue their career might be obtained.
At the beginning, the textbooks had to be chosen from among the shortest and most abridged, in consideration of the lack of development of the intellectual faculties of the pupils. That produced in due time the advantage that the new teachers, explaining to the children of their schools the same authors by whom they had been formed, afterwards came themselves better prepared to frequent the classes of the normal school. Furthermore, having left aside the qualification of the young candidates being sixteen years old, in order to enter the preparatory class, the halls of this normal school were from that time filled by the most advanced pupils of the elementary primary schools of the villages, without any notable interruption in the progress of their studies from childhood until the completion of their course.
To this spontaneous and natural modification of the regulations, was due the calling to the teaching profession of the most suitable and advanced pupils whom the normal school now possesses; and if to them be added the best students of the practice school who increased annually the number of the preparatory class, the result is that said selection must greatly redound to the very great advantage of the teaching force. It proceeded then to mitigate the harmful exclusiveness of article 11 of the regulations for the schools and teachers of primary instruction for the natives of this archipelago, permitting the exercise as teachers to the scholars graduating from this normal school of Manila, who had acquired the teacher’s certificate before reaching the age of twenty.
Indeed, that the most opportune time for exercising the duties of teacher with advantage and without loss of intellect is immediately after receiving the certificate, is evidenced by the fact that the matters recently learned remain yet fresh in the memory and in the mind of the young teachers; the will is then more active and ready to communicate those matters to the children, and enthusiasm consolidates in this case the vocation of the young teacher and moderates his mind with the habit of work, so that he will persevere in his profession for the rest of his life.
Granting the fondness of the native for instruction, and having seen the increase in this last third of the century of public instruction in Filipinas, thanks to the multitude and variety of official and private teaching centers, it is more and more indispensable every day that the primary teaching of the archipelago be propagated, perfected, and consolidated, giving the greater extension and the preferred place to the pedagogical studies of the normal school for men teachers, by adding to the course of teachers of elementary primary instruction that of superior primary instruction. The intellectual progress of Filipinas, and its hopes for the future, demand a greater development in the instruction and education of the children; and consequently, that the young men, who nobly aspire to become teachers, may obtain the certificate and prerogative of teacher of superior primary instruction. That such are the desires of the government of his Majesty, are evident by the recent creation of a superior normal school for women teachers in Manila, and the constant desire of enlarging the literary studies throughout the Spanish domains.
The necessity of also extending the teaching of this normal school for men teachers in Manila has been so widely recognized, that for some years past the supplementary courses for obtaining the certificate of superior teacher of primary instruction have in fact been studies in said center. It is so much more easy to introduce said improvement, since it can be realized with the same teaching staff, without any greater expense than the actual budget, and even an increase in the years of study can be realized. For, during the first three years, the pupils would study the branches corresponding to the teachers’ course of elementary primary instruction, in order to obtain, after passing the examinations of the third year, the certificate by virtue of the examination for degrees only those who shall have obtained in said examination the grades of excellent and passed, besides the fourth year being entitled to obtain the certificate of superior teacher, the studies of the normal school of Manila comparing throughout with those which are pursued in the superior normal schools of the Peninsula.
To the professional exercise of the duties of teacher of superior primary instruction, belong privileges, prerogatives, and emoluments, distinct from those which are enjoyed by teachers of a lower rank. In such case the término competitions of the first and second class would have to belong exclusively to the teachers of superior primary instruction, and in the contests for the ascenso schools they must be preferred to the elementary.
Said competition must take place before a competent tribunal, and must be subjected to the official schedule of the various branches, whose study prepares one for the certificate of superior teacher indispensable for such competitions.
The case foreseen by article 12 of the regulations, namely, of the existence among the supernumerary pupils of a sufficient number of teachers to supply the schools of the archipelago, having been realized, the suppression of the regular [de numero] resident pupils is now proceeding in this normal school.
In accordance, then, with the previous exposition, he who affixes his signature has the honor to recommend to the lofty consideration and approval of your Excellency, so that you may deign to bring, if you judge it suitable, to the notice of his Excellency the minister of the colonies, the subjoined modification of the regulations of the normal school for male teachers of primary instruction for the natives of the Filipinas Islands approved by her Majesty, December 20, 1863. May God preserve your Excellency many years. Manila, November 1, 1893. Your Excellency,
Hermenegildo Jacas
General Division of Civil Administration:
Your Excellency:
So powerful and conclusive are the arguments which the right reverend father director of the normal school for men teachers in Manila adduces, in order to petition your Excellency that said institution enlarge the scope of the studies of its teaching, and have, therefore, in the future, the character of superior, which the director who affixes his signature, honoring himself in making them his own, recommends to your Excellency that taking them under consideration, and in harmony with them, you deign to authorize the subjoined project for a decree. Will your Excellency decide. Manila, November 10, 1893. Your Excellency,
A. Avilés
Decree
General government of Filipinas: Civil Administration.
Manila, November 10, 1893.
This general government in the exercise of its powers and in conformity with the recommendation of the General Division of Civil Administration on this date, declares the following:
Article 1. In order to heed the necessities felt more sensibly each day for broadening and perfecting the pedagogical studies for the purpose of forming suitable teachers to whom to entrust the development and progress of primary instruction in the archipelago, the normal school for men teachers of this capital is declared a “superior normal school.”
Art. 2. Teachers’ certificates which shall be conferred in the future by this institution shall include two grades—elementary and superior.
Art. 3. The studies corresponding to the first grade shall be divided into three courses, and in the form established by the regulations, by which said institution must be ruled, in its article 4.
Art. 4. For the superior degree the same subjects shall be studied with the extension of those which are prescribed in the last section of article 4 of the abovesaid regulations.
Art. 5. The teachers’ certificates, obtained in the superior normal school, shall bear equal rights and privileges with those obtained in like institutions in the Peninsula.
Art. 6. The same instructors as those at present in the normal school shall be those charged to teach the subjects belonging to the fourth year.
Art. 7. The regulations drawn up by the director of the superior normal school for men teachers who shall begin to rule with such character, at the beginning of the next term of 1893–94 are provisionally approved.
Let it be communicated, proclaimed, and information thereof given to the ministry of the colonies for its approval.