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By Miguel Antonio de Guzman, Researcher
BAGUIO CITY: As a premiere destination for
teachers and heads of public and private schools from all over the
country for their summer refresher courses, seminars, workshops and
other gatherings, the Baguio Teachers Camp commemorates its
centenary on Sunday, April 6.
A popular landmark in Baguio City, the Teachers
Camp has substantially contributed to the development of quality
basic education—specifically the public elementary and secondary
levels under the direct supervision and administrative control of
the Department of Education (DepEd).
First institutionalized in January 18, 1908, the
Baguio Teachers Camp was traditionally a vacation and summer site
for teachers and employees of then Bureau of Education until it
became the seat of the Baguio Teachers Assembly, on April 6, 1908.
Located along Baguio City’s Leonard Wood Road,
the Teachers Camp has 23 hectares of tree-laden land area. It
accommodates 12 dormitory facilities, some 48 semi-furnished
guesthouses with two to six bedrooms, eight conference halls, two
mess halls, seven other structures and a world-class athletic oval.
The total occupancy of the 12-dormitory facilitiy at a given time is
1,500 guests.
The centennial legacy of the Camp can be traced
back with the historical launch of the Teachers’ Vacation Assembly
of American education administrators and teachers held on April 20
to May 16, 1908. It will be noted that the first Teachers’
Vacation Assembly was held entirely in camp tents. The more
permanent structure was constructed the following year to replace
the tents. Since then, the mushrooming of constructions of buildings
and concrete paths around the Camp began.
Through the years, DepEd continued its program
of restoring and upgrading the physical facilities of the camp,
beautifying the same and consistently carrying out its objective of
providing accommodations to teachers, school officials, and
administrators.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, through the
Office of Undersecretary Teodosio Sangil, Jr., is currently focused
on giving the Teachers Camp a face-lift with their effort to repair,
rehabilitate and upgrade its facilities and surroundings.
The popularity of the Camp as an alternative
venue for conferences and as a rest-and-recreation destination has
sparked a promising thought on DepEd Secretary Lapus. While
maintaining that the Camp would be the primary destination for
public school teachers whenever teacher-related conferences are
held, he also surmised of the possibility of opening it to a wider
market.
“I see the importance of utilizing the most
appropriate strategy to effectively maintain the upkeep operation of
the Camp. Believing in the principle of self-sustenance, the
operation of the Teachers Camp has to be economically viable and
self-sustaining. Anchored on this belief, we ventured into the idea
of opening the Teachers Camp not only to its regular DepEd clientele
but also to other prospective clientele in the bureaucracy and the
private sector,” Lapus said.
Opening and expanding the market to the
non-traditional clientele is seen as a prospect to enable the Camp
to earn and support its own maintenance aside from the yearly
allocation provided by the national government.
With Teachers Camp reaching another milestone as
it celebrates its 100th year of existence, its legacy will continue
to live on both as training ground for teachers and a vacation
destination for travelers.
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