Why Marikina grade school is topping the NAT

MANILA, Philippines - While most public and private schools vigorously prepare their elementary and high school students for the National Achievement Test (NAT), a grade school in Marikina has been topping NAT by wide margins without even trying.

 This private grade school, aptly named Ingenium, has done it in Marikina, not just once, but twice, beating the city’s 17 public and 38 other private schools and their more than 10,000 students in the NAT 2009 and 2010. And to think that the 2009 topnotchers were just the first graduating class of Ingenium’s grade school.

 Ingenium’s pre-school and elementary graduates also pass the entrance tests of the country’s known top schools in a breeze. 

 Next year, Ingenium is expanding into secondary education, offering first year high school and preparing for the K-to-12 program being implemented by the DECS.

 “On the whole, our students are easily accepted in the established top schools of Manila. Our preschool students who choose to go to the Ateneo Grade School have generally no difficulty getting accepted there. Often enough, whether in other grade schools or high schools, they are among the leaders and top academic achievers of their classes,” says Ingenium directress and co-founder Dr. Salve B. Borlagdan, Ph.D.

   Borlagdan adds, “In terms of academics, Ingenium’s standard of education is initially benchmarked on such schools as the Ateneo de Manila University and Xavier School. And in terms of total student formation, Ingenium even aims to be a pacesetter among all the schools, which is the reason why it deliberately keeps its classes small. The most fundamental reason (for Ingenium’s achievements) is our over-all direction and philosophy that all students are gifted with talents. What is needed is to stimulate, encourage, and guide the development of those talents to their fullest potential through a solid curriculum and first-rate instruction.”

 To provide the best possible support to the work of the teachers, the Ingenium School has first-class physical facilities from pre-school to elementary and up to high school that starts next year. Its libraries are well stocked with extensive collections. Every classroom is wired for the Internet and equipped with LCD projectors. It recently inaugurated its brand-new four-story building near Marikina Hotel.

 The truth is, Ingenium prepares its students not just for the NAT but for something much bigger than that — their success in life, and that of their country.

 The Ingenium School is located near the Marikina Hotel and Convention Center. For inquiries, call 924-0921, 942-7079, 942-1151 or 941-5867.