Soon, Manila will be regaining a long lost glory of being the hub and model of development for the whole Asia, courtesy of the Malayan High School of Science, located along Paz Guanzon Street in Pandacan.
The newest education institution to rise in the Philippines’ city capital. MHSS is slated to formally open classes in June with a vision to become an international center of excellence in science and technology and a mission to help the country develop globally competitive human resources. It is affiliated with one of the country’s leading technological schools, the Mapua Institute of Technology.
MHSS is aimed at producing graduates who can gain admission to and successfully hurdle scientific and technological degree programs in the best colleges and universities in the country and abroad.
“We have decided to make this high school a science high school to be able to contribute to our country’s advancement and, on a more mundane level, to have a feeder to our engineering, information technology, and science programs in our campuses in Intramuros, Makati and soon, in Laguna,” explains MIT MHSS president Dr. Reynaldo Vea on the nature of the new high school. “It is a way of giving more Filipino families the opportunity to have their children undergo a high school education of international standards, which will hopefully open many doors for them in later years.”
The curriculum of MHSS has been designed in way that students will have an early and sustained exposure to information and communications technology, biotechnology, as well as other technologies as robotics, microelectronics, new materials and nanotechnology, while maintaining the balance of totally immersing students in the arts and letters and the humanities.
“Its is clear that major driving force of the world economy today is science and technology. Therefore, science high schools remain relevant to our national life,” says Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco, the main man behind the realization of MHSS.” In establishing the [MSSI], we hope to be able to contribute to our country’s efforts to be significant player in a global, knowledge-based economy.”
Honorable Manila Mayor Jose “Lito” Atienza, Jr., who was just the guest of honor during the inauguration and blessing of the edifice and its facilities last Monday, lauded the significant efforts of the Malayan team, led by Yuchengco, to give young Manileños better competencies.
“I’m sure it will inspire the creativity and potential of out young who will study in this institution. And I’m doubly happy because this exactly what Manila is trying to accomplish – to provide a development-oriented environment to our young and old today to excite them into action and to wake them up to our potentials as a city that was once upon a time admired, copied and used as a model by the other Asian cities who are now far advanced, ahead of us,” he said in his speech.
Atienza was referring to the Manila being the model of development for the whole of Asia at one point in the past, saying that the city cradles to a string of firsts in the realm of development, among which are the vehicular underpass, pedestrian underpass, airline, yacht club and first zoo.
The Philippines, Atienza said, is very rich in resources but they have never been managed well to provide the Filipinos with opportunities for productivity. And, in order to get back on the right track, Atienza emphasized the need to prioritize a well-administered education for young Filipinos.
“Nasa wastong pagsasanay ng kagalingan ng ating mga kabataan ang kinabukasan. Education in general and sciences in particular are the characters and elements of our people that need to be attended to,” he stressed, adding that it is the primary concern of his administration.
“What we need is a stundentry who will not only be developed in their skills but also imbued with social consciousness, involvement in the community, good citizenship, confidence in what one can do and love of country,” Atienza concludes.
Among those present during the inaugural were Amb. Yuchengco, Dr. Vea, former senator Jovito Salonga, former Philippine Prime Minister Cesar Virata, and key officials from the City of Manila, Department of Education and Science and Technology. |
