|
The National Teachers College was founded by the late
Segundo M. Infantado, Sr. and
Flora Amoranto Ylagan. It was officially
incorporated on September 29, 1928 in accordance with Act No. 1459 as amended,
and was authorized by the Department of Public
Instruction on April 17, 1929 to operate as an educational institution.
Its doors opened to the student public the following June 10, and
was granted government recognition on February 17, 1930.
It was the first kind to be permitted by the government to operate a
complete General course in Education leading to the degree of Bachelor of
Science in Education, a complete Preparatory Course leading to the title of
Associate in Arts and complete courses in General High School, Commercial High
School and High School in Home Economics, all at once during the first year.
All these courses were permitted to be offered in the morning and evening
which was never done in other schools before the establishments of this College.
The College also holds the distinction of being the first to be
authorized to offer General Secondary classes for teachers during the long
vacation of 1930 before it was granted its final recognition by the government.
The college started with seventy-six students only. The subjects offered were varied, twenty-three different
kinds to suit the convenience of students.
The classes were so few
that they were no more than adequately housed in a two-storey nine-room
building. This was located on the
corner of Mendiola and Legarda streets in Manila.
The first faculty was small—only sixteen members in all. But these were professionals of established repute.
Included among them were founders of the College, Dr. Segundo M.
Infantado and Dr. Flora A. Ylagan. In
addition, the roster of professors listed such names as Federico Roa for
Mathematics, Dr. Francisco A. Lava for Political Science, Vicente Dizon for Art,
Dr. Antonio Isidro for Methods and Instruction, Aurelio Ramos for
Curriculum Development, Dr. Mariano Icasiano for School Hygiene, Rodolfo V.
Flores for Psychology, and Josefa Reinoso for Household Administration.
This strong faculty helped to attract more students.
Despite the disastrous world-wide economic depression in 1929, the
enrolment increased the following year.
The Second World War interrupted the expansion program of the College and
destroyed much of the improvements it took years to build. The occupying enemy purged the Library of all books which
dealt with Western culture, especially those American in nature.
They destroyed the collection of specimens and greatly reduced the
laboratory facilities.
Liberation in 1945 brought about reorganization and renewed dedication of
the College to the cause of teacher education.
When classes resumed at the opening of the school year in 1945 only a
third of the pre-war students were able to return.
Yet the College served more than double the old enrolment because its
facilities were used in the evening without remuneration by the United States
Armed Forces for educational purposes. Thus
the NTC hewed closely to its avowed purpose of serving the nation through
education in general and teacher education in particular.
Through the years, the NTC has continuously striven to keep abreast of
educational development here and abroad. But
always it has striven to make its program of training relevant to the life of
the nation, and the conditions prevailing among the people for whose welfare its
students are being trained. Therefore,
the increased emphasis on science and communication has impelled the College
authorities to acquire an additional site.
On this site was constructed a Science building.
To complete its building program and to enclose the entire building block
for the greater security of the students, the Board of Trustees decided to put
up two additional halls in place of the old college building.
The latter was demolished to make way for the Ylagan Hall and the
Infantado Hall. At present the NTC
has seven modern buildings.
To all these may be mentioned the periodic revisions and
enrichments of the curriculum of general and professional education and the
improvement of the methods and technology in instruction.
The College has moved several steps forward by including new courses from
the Kindergarten to the doctoral levels. It
would be worth noting that the NTC was the first to offer a three-unit course in
Contemporary Philippine Literature in English.
That was in 1946. The College, too, was the first to teach Rizal’s Life and
Works in Filipino. Time was when
Proficiency Courses supplemented the preparations for major subjects standard
among those offered by similar institutions of higher learning.
The College has been actively involved in community service or non-formal
education since 1948. it is the
first institution in the Philippine educational system that has a PTA in the
tertiary level since 1972 and chosen as a Population Education Pilot School in Metro Manila since 1974.
To meet the demand of the changing times, the College offered the
One-Year General Clerical course in 1959, which gave rise to the Two-Year Junior
Secretarial Course in 1977. Likewise,
catering to secondary school graduates with technical inclinations, a Community
College for the Food Technicians course was opened in 1977.
In the span of the years the NTC has grown steadily. Among private education institutions in the Philippines it
has attained on its own right through years of performance, a pre-eminent place
in educational leaderships, particularly in the field of teacher education.
CONTINUE TO PAGE 2
|
