It must be a matter of giving credit to whom credit is due is the overriding reason behind the possible changing of name of the Tublay School of Home Industries (TSHI) to Andres Acop Cosalan School of Home Industries (AACSHI) in the days to come, following the drafting of a resolution by the TSHI Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) supporting and formalizing the request of the community members of this municipality for the change of name of this school in honor to their illustrious leader who toiled for the establishment of this vocation-technical school in his home town.
The establishment of this national high school for home industries named Tublay School of Home Industries by virtue of Republic Act No. 5301 authored by then Andres Acop Cosalan, Sr. during his stint as Congressman in the late 1960’s to the early 1970’s representing the Baguio-Benguet district and then the lone district of Benguet
Following its establishment under the supervision and administration of the Bureau of Vocational Education, the school started offering courses “in home and/or cottage industries, particularly those that can avail of and best utilize the supply of raw materials available in the locality, and enrollment shall be open to all, including adults.”
Pursuant to this law authorizing the Secretary of Education “to acquire a site for the establishment of this school by purchase, grant or donation and to issue rules and regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this act,” this school was established in a lot located at Acop, Caponga, Tublay, Benguet, formerly utilized as Benguet Provincial Nursery but converted as school site as per Provincial Board Resolution No. 440, Series of 1971.
Years following the death of former Congressman Andres Acop Cosalan, Sr. in 2013, a collective proposal ripened and snowballed to change the name of the Tublay School of Home Industries vice his name in honor and in recognition not only for his efforts resulting to the establishment of this school but also for his contributions to the progress and development of the municipality of Tublay in particular and the province of Benguet in general.
These days, TSHI has been uplifted and enlisted into the STVEP (Strengthened Technical-Vocational Education Program) of the Department of Education, expanding course offerings from what it originally offered even prior to the enactment of the K12 law and its implementation.
In the prior years, the school offered four-year degree courses in Bachelor of Science in Industrial Education (BSEI) in consortium with the Benguet School of Arts and Trade (BSAT), and Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology, but its permit to offer these tertiary courses was not renewed by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (MECS) due to technical and financial constraints.
However, these days, it now offers technical-vocational courses under the TESDA program and two tertiary courses in partnership with the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMMSU).
Moreover, the school’s extension school established in 1983 at Tublay Central, Tublay, Benguet is now separated from the mother school as independent national high school, now named Tublay National Trade High School.
From 40 students when it started full operation in 1971, the enrollees as of June 2018 has increased leap and bound to 2,550 students from different municipalities of Benguet and other provinces of the Cordillera. The total enrollees are distributed between Junior High School (Grades 7-10) at 1,759 students and Senior High School (Grades 11-12) at 1,351 students dominated by girls.
The school is now headed by the newly installed OIC School Principal, George C. Api-it, Jr., Assistant Principal II, following the promotion of the former School Principal, Georgina C. Ducayso, as Education Program Supervisor-Science to the Benguet Division Office. The OIC School Principal supervises 79 teaching personnel and 29 non-teaching personnel, some of whom are PTA-paid personnel.
Meanwhile, to realize and formalize the changing of name of the school, a PTA resolution must be passed for this purpose and will have to be endorsed and recommended by the school board to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Benguet, in consultation with the National Historical Commission, for the enactment of an ordinance authorizing the change of name of the school. After which, the ordinance will be forwarded to the National Historical Commission for confirmation.
By: Jerry L. Esnara
Banner photo: The profile view of the Tublay School of Home Industries (TSHI) Campus at Acop, Caponga, Tublay, Benguet. Photo by: Guilf Nadunop
