Jose Vasquez Aguilar (March 23, 1900 - January 31, 1980) is the first Filipino recipient of the
Ramon Magsaysay Award
The Ramon Magsaysay Award (Filipino: ''Gawad Ramon Magsaysay'') is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealis ...
(Asian equivalent of
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
) and also the first awardee of the said award for Government Service (Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service). He is also a recipient in the government service category of the said award which he shared with
Chintaman Deshmukh
Sir Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh, CIE, ICS (14 January 1896 – 2 October 1982) was an Indian civil servant and the first Indian to be appointed the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 1943 by the British Raj authorities. He subsequent ...
in 1959. He is also recognized as the Father of the Community School Movement in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, pioneering reforms to ensure that community life is integrated in the education system. His community school model banks on the partnership between teachers, parents, and community with the goal of ensuring a practical education using the vernacular as a medium of instruction.
Personal life
Born on March 23, 1900, Jose Vasquez Aguilar was the second of eight children of Martin Aguilar and Sofia Vasquez. As a child he won oratorical contests because of his deep and booming voice. He finished his elementary education at Cadiz Central School in 1915 and graduated from
Negros Occidental High School
Negros Occidental High School is a public secondary educational institution and oldest public secondary school in the province located in Bacolod, Negros Occidental, in the Philippines that was founded since 1902. The school currently offers var ...
in 1920.
He was sent off to Iloilo together with his older brother Martin Jr. to stay with their aunt
Patrocinio Gamboa
Patrocinio Gamboa y Villareal (30 April 1865 – 24 November 1953) was a Filipino revolutionary notable for her participation in the Philippine Revolution. Gamboa is best known for making the Philippine flag hoisted during the inauguration of t ...
, best known in Philippine history for her role in transporting the
Katipunan flag. In Iloilo, he entered the Jaro Industrial School which would later on become known as
Central Philippine University. Then Baptist missionary and teacher Rev.
William Orison Valentine
William Orison Valentine (May 9, 1862– February 2, 1928) was an innovative educator and missionary in service of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society who established and served as first president of Jaro Industrial School, now Ce ...
encouraged Aguilar to continue his college education at
Denison University
Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary and ...
in Ohio. Seeing the young man's intelligence and diligence, Valentine wanted to marry him off to his daughter but at that time, Aguilar was already in love with Ramona Deysolong, the daughter of a senator's administrator.
He left for the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1921, supporting himself by peddling goods while still being active in oratorical matters. He received his Bachelor of Philosophy degree two years later in 1925 after which he immediately returned to the Philippines as a teacher of English at his alma mater
Negros Occidental High School
Negros Occidental High School is a public secondary educational institution and oldest public secondary school in the province located in Bacolod, Negros Occidental, in the Philippines that was founded since 1902. The school currently offers var ...
.
After a series of promotions, he finally married his sweetheart in 1927 and the union brought forth six children: Neva, Sonya, Elmer, Delia, Lina, and Mila. He died of heart attack on January 31, 1980.
Career
Aguilar quickly rose in rank in the education sector, first being promoted in 1926 to academic supervisor in
Masbate. He was transferred to
Cebu
Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 ...
with the same position the following year. Also in 1927, he topped the Division Superintendents' Examination, which was followed by his marriage to his sweetheart. In succeeding years, he served as division superintendent in Camarines Norte, Antique, Samar, Capiz, and Iloilo until 1954.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Aguilar was almost killed because of his college education in the United States and for being perceived as having pro-American sentiments. It was only after the war, in 1948, when he published his novel ''The Great Faith'' which revolves around the
Occupation
Occupation commonly refers to:
*Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment
*Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces
*Military occupation, th ...
and which attempts to "portray faith in cultural roots as they responded to friendly encouragement from a great democratic nation".
At the height of his career, Aguilar sought to address issues like the high number of dropouts, low level of language proficiency, irrelevance of the school curriculum to daily realities, and the cultural gap between the elites and the ordinary citizens. For this, he created the Community School, a model based on the cooperative efforts of teachers, parents, and community. With this framework, he was also able to help double the production of crops and rice in
Capiz by introducing second cropping.
In 1948, Aguilar was instrumental in initiating a research project in
Santa Barbara, Iloilo with an official endorsement from the Bureau of Public Schools in
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
. The project centered on the use of the vernacular as the medium of instruction in
early childhood education. The research project supported his theory that students taught in their native
Hiligaynon obtained significantly higher scores than those taught in English. In addition, the first group also displayed greater interest in learning, aside from exhibiting more dominant, extroverted, and mature traits.
He retired as superintendent of schools in Iloilo in 1954 to accept the position of full professor in the College of Education at the University of the Philippines where he became college dean in 1958. A year later, he retired from government service to co-direct the Philippine Center for Language Studies.
With the establishment of the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Community Development (PACD) in 1956 under Executive Order 156,
the first barrio councils replaced the grassroots-based community school. Ironically, this executive order was created under the leadership of
Ramon Magsaysay himself. Year later, the Philippine Center for Language Studies produced results contrary to early findings on using the vernacular, in favor of returning to English to be the main language for early education teaching.
Honors
For his contributions to the Philippine educational system and community welfare, Aguilar received numerous awards, the most prominent being the
Ramon Magsaysay Award
The Ramon Magsaysay Award (Filipino: ''Gawad Ramon Magsaysay'') is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealis ...
for Government Service in 1959. He also received an honorary doctorate degree from the
Central Philippine University in 1952.
References
External links
TeacherPHRamon Magsaysay Award Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aguilar, Jose Vasquez
Ramon Magsaysay Award winners
Central Philippine University people
Central Philippine University alumni
1900 births
People from Negros Occidental
1980 deaths