Established 1964 Founded 1964 | Grades 7 to 12 | |
Type Public specialized high school Executive Director Dr. Larry L. Cabatic (effective September 1, 2014) Number of students 2,822 (school year 2004-2005) Campus Diliman, Quezon City (Main Campus)
San Ildefonso, Ilocos Sur (Ilocos Region)
Bayombong (Cagayan Valley)
Baguio (Cordillera Administrative Region)
Clark Freeport Zone (Central Luzon)
Batangas City (CALABARZON)
Odiongan, Romblon (MIMAROPA)
Goa, Camarines Sur (Bicol Region)
Iloilo City (Western Visayas)
Argao, Cebu (Central Visayas)
Palo, Leyte (Eastern Visayas)
Dipolog (Zamboanga Peninsula)
Baloi, Lanao del Norte (Central Mindanao)
Davao City (Southern Mindanao)
Koronadal (SOCCSKSARGEN)
Butuan (Caraga) Address AH26, Butuan City, Agusan Del Norte, Philippines Affiliation Department of Science and Technology Profiles | ||
Why some pisay grads face money woes
The Philippine Science High School System is a specialized public high school system in the Philippines that operates as an attached agency of the Philippine Department of Science and Technology. PSHS is considered as the top science high school in the Philippines and is viewed to be among the best in the ASEAN region by 2016.
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The PSHS System offers scholarships to Filipino students who are gifted in the sciences and mathematics. Admission to the PSHS is by competitive examination, and only Filipino citizens are eligible to attend. Graduates of the PSHS are bound by law to major in the pure and applied sciences, mathematics, or engineering on entering college. The system is known to have a very challenging curriculum which produces the best professionals in the country.
PSHS is known for its active participation in national and international science, technology, and mathematics competitions such as Sipnayan, Kapnayan, MATHirang MATHibay, Metrobank-MTAP-DepEd Math Challenge, Philippine Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry Olympiads, Australian Mathematics Competition and Australian Chemistry Quiz. Through private funding, students successfully reap awards in international competitions such as the Taiwan International Science and Engineering Fair, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, International Math Olympiad, International Junior Science Olympiad, International Earth Science Olympiad, International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics, and International Physics Olympiad.
A movie was released in 2007 in honor of Philippine science highs. Pisay got national and international recognition as it was sent to the Toronto International Film Festival. Pisay was directed by an alumnus of the school, Auraeus Solito, and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Campuses
For 24 years, the PSHS was a single campus on Agham Road, Diliman, Quezon City where the top 240 examinees in the National Competitive Examination held yearly were accepted as government scholars. All campuses have at most 30 students in each class. However, regional campuses only have three classes in contrast to the main campus which has eight classes per batch. Currently, PSHS has 12 regional campuses in addition to the main campus.
System organization
The Board of Trustees (BOT) is the highest policy making body of the PSHS System. The Executive Committee (ExeCom), composed of the directors of different PSHS campuses, is a collegial body that recommends policies and guidelines for the consideration of the BOT. The Executive Committee is chaired by the Executive Director, who coordinates the implementation of these policies and guidelines. PSHS campuses are headed by directors who are members of the ExeCom.
History
The Philippine Science High School was established through Republic Act 3661, authored by Congressman Virgilio Afable, and signed into law in 1963 by President Diosdado Macapagal. This charter mandates the PSHS “to offer on a free scholarship basis a secondary course with emphasis on subjects pertaining to service with the end in view of preparing its students for a science career”. The school started operations in 1964.
National scientist Dr. Gregorio Velasquez led the PSHS through its first three years. The campus started in a small rented GSIS-owned property along the Quezon Memorial Circle. In 1970 PSHS started building on a 75,000 square metre lot along Agham Road in Diliman, Quezon City.
By the end of the 1980s, PSHS started to spread across the nation. The first regional campuses were built, starting with the Mindanao Campus (now Southern Mindanao Campus), in Davao City, in 1988.
The PSHS System Law (R.A. 8496) was signed by President Fidel V. Ramos in 1997 that established the PSHS System and unified all the existing campuses into a single system of governance and management. Thus, the PSHS continues fulfilling its mandate “to offer, on a free scholarship basis, a secondary course with special emphasis on subjects pertaining to the sciences, with the end view of preparing its students for a science career”.