Jose Abad Santos Memorial School - Quezon City | |
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Location | |
Quezon City Philippines |
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Information | |
Type | Private, Progressive Nonsectarian, Coeducational |
Motto | Learning To Be Free |
Administrator | Gillian Virata, Executive Director for Basic Education |
Principal | Diana Gutierrez |
Campus Director | Dr. Nancy Felipe |
Grades | K to 12 |
Campus | EDSA, Quezon City |
Color(s) | Maroon, and White |
Athletics | Badminton, Basketbal, Volleyball |
Hymns | JASMS Song |
Website | www |
The Jose Abad Santos Memorial School, or JASMS, is the basic education institution (K to 12) of the Philippine Women's University (PWU). JASMS offers preschool, elementary, and secondary. The school is an acknowledged pioneer in progressive education developed from and for the Philippine democratic experience based on a unique approach described as ''education for democracy'' or ''learning to be free" by its founding director, the late Doreen Barber Gamboa.
JASMS QC opened along what is now known as EDSA to serve the needs of the growing community of Philamlife Homes in 1956 and, in 1961, the JASMS High School at Quezon City opened.
Presently, the JASMS system occupies three campuses: the nursery (3-year-olds)-to–Grade 6 levels of PWU JASMS Manila (formerly JASMS Indiana) located on Pilar Hidalgo-Lim Street in Malate, Manila; the PWU JASMS Manila High School (Grade 7 to Grade 12) in the PWU main campus on Taft Avenue in Malate, Manila; and the nursery-to–Grade 12 campus of JASMS Quezon City (QC) in West Triangle Homes, EDSA, Quezon City.
JASMS evolved from the preschool (est. 1933) of the Philippine Women’s University (PWU) under the leadership of President Francisca Tirona Benitez. President Benitez hired Doreen Barber Gamboa and Priscilla Abaya to first set up and run the preschool in the fenced-in area which was the PWU gymnasium. Gamboa was of Irish descent and had trained in psychology.
Gamboa and Abaya noticed that most of the children in the new PWU preschool were being held back from fully exploring the books, art materials, blocks, and play facilities provided them in school. They wouldn’t participate in the singing, art, and story-telling activities led by the two young teachers—except for three young boys who raced through all the materials and eagerly participated in all the activities. The teachers noticed that these three boys were the only ones who were dropped off at school without yayas (nannies), parents, or relatives.
First, the teachers sought the cooperation of over-protective parents to free the children from their yayas and other "watchers." Next, they expanded the physical set-up of the classroom to include the outdoors. The children were encouraged to play vigorously, explore their environment, and experiment widely with the materials that the environment had to offer. Movement was encouraged and employed, rather than restricted. As the population of the school grew, so did the popularity of the school with the parents. It was the parents themselves who petitioned for the preschool’s expansion into a bona fide grade school department.