Group 6: Report in RIZALJ1

1. The Town
Schools in the
Philippines

2. About the Essay
This document is part of
Miscellaneous Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal
which was published by the National
Historical Commission of the Philippines
(1992).
Author: Dr. Jose P. Rizal

3. In this essay, Rizal exposed the
depressed conditions of the town schools
in the Philippines, in terms of physical
conditions, curriculum, methods and
principles of teaching.

4. The Content
In this essay which is original in
Spanish, “La Instruccion”, the national
hero Rizal OBSERVES the elementary
instruction given in the town schools
established under the provisions of the
Educational Decrees of 1863 and offers
proposals for its improvement.

5. Summary

6. What Rizal Observed.?
• Rizal found the Spanish-administered
education in his country poor and
futile.
• Rizal for instance pointed out that
there was problem in the mandated
medium of instruction – the colonizers’
language (Spanish) which was not
perfectly understood by the natives.

7. Town School’s Physical
Condition
• Location of the town schools were only
in the major towns which means limited
access.
• Lack of furniture as the schools were
made of nipa and bamboo or some
were residential houses.
• Facilities are not enough like Libraries
and other resouces.

8. These physical conditions obviously
do not give much appetite for the
students to learn more lessons.

9. The curriculum is very limited
offering only the following:
• 3R’s – Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic for
both boys and girls.
• Girls were given lessons in sewing and
household craft.

10. The methods of teaching
have the following features:
• Emphasis in memorization.
• The mediums of the instruction was
Spanish that Rizal discourage, as the
student don’t understand it well
enough.
• Boys are separated from girls.

11. Recommendation of Rizal
1. Use the native language for
instruction.
2. The provision for compulsory
elementary education in the
Philippines law.

12. Moral Lessons
• Love your studies because Dr. Jose
Rizal fought for it especially in using our
own language or dialect in studying.
• Pursue your studies because we are
blessed now unlike the past years, they
don’t have this kind of facilities
especially classrooms and libraries and
also they have lack of furniture and
resources.