The Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA) is a specialized public high school in the Philippines offering arts-focused education established in 1978 by virtue of Presidential Decree 1287.
An attached agency of the Department of Education, it consults with the
Cultural Center of the Philippines
The Cultural Center of the Philippines ( fil, Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas, or CCP) is a government-owned and controlled corporation established to preserve, develop and promote arts and culture in the Philippines.Presidential Decree No. ...
for policy and program implementation of its arts program. Aside from the Basic Education curriculum prescribed by the government, it offers various specializations in the field of
arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
.
Entrance to the school is highly competitive: at any given time, it has a small population of 130-145 students.
Students accepted into the PHSA are given full scholarship and living assistance.
Its campus is located in the
National Arts Center
The National Arts Center is a building complex situated in Mount Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna, the Philippines. The establishment was inaugurated in 1976. Its theater is the Tanghalang Maria Makiling or the NAC Center, which has an audience capac ...
in
Mount Makiling,
Los Baños, Laguna.
Academics and Student Life
Every year, the school opens its application process through the Annual Nationwide Search for Young Arts Scholars (ANSYAS). Applicants must be graduating Filipino elementary school students not more than 14 years old with outstanding abilities in the arts.
[ Once accepted, students undergo basic education classes in the morning and specialized instruction in the afternoon.]Guillermo Tolentino
Guillermo Estrella Tolentino (July 24, 1890 – July 12, 1976) was a Filipino sculptor and professor of the University of the Philippines. He was designated as a National Artist of the Philippines for Sculpture in 1973, three years before his de ...
.
Controversy
Due to numerous sexual abuse allegations, DepEd
The Department of Education (abbreviated as DepEd; fil, Kagawaran ng Edukasyon) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for ensuring access to, promoting equity in, and improving the quality of basic education. It ...
insisted and requested help from the NBI to investigate the school immediately in accordance with the letter sent by Vice President and Secretary of Education Sarah Duterte on July 11, 2022.
At the end of the investigation, the NBI identified three suspects: a senior student, a teacher, and a male dormitory parent. The school administration also responded to the issue saying that they will ensure that this will not happen again and promised to provide a good learning environment for their students.
Notable alumni
* Rowena Arrieta, concert pianist
*Leila Florentino, lead singer, performer in the Broadway-run Miss Saigon
''Miss Saigon'' is a stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madame Butterfly'', and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed roma ...
.
References
{{Coord missing, Philippines
Education in Los Baños, Laguna
High schools in Laguna (province)
Department of Education (Philippines)
Establishments by Philippine presidential decree