OUR STORY

St. John Bosco and St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco) in 1872. The Spirit, who animated and guided Don Bosco in the progressive realization of God’s plan for the salvation of youth, also directed Sr. Mary Domenica Mazzarello, Co-Foundress of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians to begin in Mornese a work that has the creative zeal of the Salesian spirit of Valdocco. In fact, the Spirit enkindled in her Don Bosco’s same experience of apostolic charity, preparing her to express the feminine dimension of the charism. Enlightened and moved by the Spirit even before meeting Don Bosco, she walked the same path, tended towards the same goal and could be said to be very “Salesian by instinct”.

 

With the spirit of initiative, the first FMA’s promoted a serious and enlightened education of young women by means of instruction, professional preparation and Christian formation, according to an integral educative project similar to Don Bosco’s.

 

The “ministry of education” for the salvation of youth to which Sr. Mary Domenica Mazzarello was called, a ministry which is carried out by every Daughter of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters) in time, is best exemplified in their schools the world over. (Acts of the GC XIX) From its humble beginnings in Mornese, a simple village in Italy, the congregation is now a presence in more than 90 countries all over the world with more than 13,000 FMA’s (an Italian acronym for Daughters of Mary Help of Christians) who live and work with the young in the style of the Preventive System. 

 

In 1955, the communists’ takeover of China forced the FMA missionaries stationed there to move to Hong Kong and then to the Philippines where they started a variety of apostolic works, such as oratory youth centers and schools. After 60 years of educative presence in the Philippines, the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco can be found today in communities in Luzon and the Visayas. They involve themselves in various forms of apostolic presences such as oratory youth centers, catechetical apostolate, schools, street children centers, boarding houses, student centers, technology centers for women and in many other various forms of human social promotion such as medical-dental and livelihood programs.

St. John Bosco and St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco) in 1872. The Spirit, who animated and guided Don Bosco in the progressive realization of God’s plan for the salvation of youth, also directed Mary Domenica Mazzarello, Co-Foundress of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians to begin at Mornese a work that has the creative zeal of the Salesian spirit of Valdocco. In fact, the Spirit enkindled in her Don Bosco’s same experience of apostolic charity, preparing her to express the feminine dimension of the charism. Enlightened and moved by the Spirit even before meeting Don Bosco, Mary Domenica walked the same path, tended towards the same goal and, it could be said, was “Salesian by instinct.”

 

With the spirit of initiative, the first Daughters of Mary Help of Christians promoted a serious and enlightened education of young women by means of instruction, professional preparation and Christian formation, according to an integral educative project similar to Don Bosco.

The “ministry of education” for the salvation of youth to which Mary Domenica Mazzarello was called – a ministry carried out by every Daughter of Mary Help of Christians in time, is best exemplified in our schools the world over (Acts of the GC XIX). From its humble beginnings at Mornese, a simple village in Italy, the Congregation in now present in more than 97 countries all over the world with more than 11, 000 FMA’s (an Italian acronym for Daughters of Mary Help of Christians) who live and work with the young in the style of the Preventive System.

 

In 1955, the Communist takeover of China forced the FMA missionaries stationed there to move to Hong Kong, then to the Philippines where they started a variety of apostolic works such as oratory youth centers and schools. After 67 years of its educational presence, the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco in the Philippines – Papua New Guinea Province can be found in 19 communities today in Luzon and the Visayas. They involve themselves in various forms of apostolic presences such as oratory youth centers, catechetical apostolate, schools, street children, boarding houses, student centers, technology centers and many other forms of human-social promotion such as medical-dental and livelihood programs.

The school was inaugurated on May 3, 1995 and on June 29, 1995, Archbishop Paciano B. Aniceto, D.D. officially accepted and authorized the presence of the FMA community and permitted them to engage in apostolic activities, particularly in the education of youth and in catechetical formation within the Archdiocese of San Fernando, Pampanga.

 

The site of the school is a two-hectare land donated by the late Ms. Luz D. Morales. Various agencies extended financial support in building the school. The USAID and the Laura Vicuña Foundation were among them. The school aims at providing for the education of young girls and women who have less opportunities in life, including Amerasians and those coming from families affected by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991.

 

At its foundation in 1995, the School had two departments: The Basic Education Department and the Technology Institute for Women. In June 1995, the basic education department opened with the first boys and girls in Nursery, Kinder, Grade 1 and the all-girls First Year High School students. In the month of August of the same year, the Technology Center for Women welcomed its pioneer female trainees enrolled in Computer Secretarial, Garments and Food Technology.  

 

On July 15, 1996, MHCS received Government Recognition No. E-036 s. 1996 for its Pre-elementary course, on June 22, 1996, Government Recognition No. 022 s. 1996 for the elementary levels, and on September 21, 1998, Government Recognition No. 005 s. 1998 for the Secondary levels. The first Commencement Rites in the Basic Education Department were held in 1999 (High School) and in 2001 (Grade School).

 

In October 1999, a new building for the Technology Center for Women was inaugurated to accommodate its growing number of enrollees and the addition of the other courses starting in 1997: Electronics and Computer Technology, Business and Office Technology, Hotel and Tourism Technology, Sales Technology and Industrial Electronics. In May 2004, the former Technology Center for Women was eventually recognized as an independent institution from Mary Help of Christians School (MHCS), and assumed a new name: Mary Our Help Technical Institute for Women (MOHTIW).

 

For 4 years, MHCS and MOHTIW were administered by the same FMA Community. However, on account of the growing complexity of the mission, it was deemed necessary to entrust the two institutions to two independent FMA communities. Thus, in 2009, the total separation of the two educational entities became a reality. 

 

With MHCS as the main focus of the mission now, the years that followed saw its growth as a reputable basic education school that gives quality Salesian, Catholic, transformative education and faith formation. The students come not just from Mabalacat City, but from nearby localities of both the Provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac. 

 

In September 2011, MHCS applied to be ESC (Education Service Contracting) – certified by the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) and successfully passed the certification visits, being granted, on its initial application, a 5-year certified status. As an ESC-certified school, MHCS was able to cater to more junior high school students from the lower middle income families who would, otherwise, have sent their children to public schools. In 2017, the school underwent the 1st ESC re-certification visit, and, once again, was granted a 5-year ESC re-certified status until 2022. 

 

On May 15, 2013, then President Benigno Aquino III approved Republic Act (RA) 10533, signing into law the K-12 program. It covers mandatory Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (six years of primary education, four years of Junior High School, and two years of Senior High School [SHS]). The Philippine government implemented the K to 12 programs to enhance the educational system of the country in order to accelerate the mutual recognition of Filipino graduates and professionals across the world.

 

Hence, the School Year 2016 – 2017 saw another milestone in MHCS with the official opening of the MHCS Senior High School Department offering the three strands of the Academic track: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) and Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS). A total of 33 students became the 1st Grade 11 students of the school: 17 for STEM and 8 each for ABM and HUMSS. These 1st SHS students graduated at the end of the following school year, with 100% of the graduates proceeding to tertiary education, the very exit point for which the school prepared them in their SHS years.

 

A year before the SHS Department opened, the school administration has also deemed it best, after repeated requests from the parents, to open the Junior High School levels to male enrollees from among the Grade 6 graduates for the SY 2016 – 2017. For the 1st 22 years of the school’s existence, the Junior High School Department took pride in being the only all-girls high school in Mabalacat City and the nearby localities the school serves. Eight boys homegrown from the school’s grade school department became the pioneer male JHS MHCians. 

 

It was during the school’s 25th year, in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and forced all schools around the globe to shut down for a time as physical gatherings were very risky. A lot of families dealt with the effects of loss of jobs, closure of many businesses, not to mention experiencing sickness and death from the COVID virus. This resulted in a sharp decline in enrollment in most private schools in the country, MHCS included. When school re-opened in August 2020 after almost 6 months of full closure, nearly 300 MHCians transferred to public schools and to smaller private schools charging lower school fees. Others had to stop studying. 

 

Like most schools, MHCS had to shift to distance learning modalities. Mary Help of Christians School (Pampanga), Inc.’s immediate response was consolidated in its A.C.C.E.S.S. @ Mary Help program! “A.C.C.E.S.S.” is an acronym for Adaptive, Competent, Collaborative Education and Salesian Spirituality Formation. It is the name of the learning continuity plan of Mary Help of Christians School – Pampanga crafted at the beginning of the Academic Year 2020 – 2021, the 1st fully online school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is still in use until this SY 2022 – 2023. It highlights the assurance that the school gives of the quality Catholic, Salesian, 21st century education and faith formation in MHCS, albeit offered through various modalities. 

 

Indeed, responsive to the challenges of the pandemic, the school continued to offer the MHCians, during the two fully-online school years 2020 – 2021 and 2021 – 2022, a brand of education, evangelization and accompaniment that are distinctly and characteristically how MHCS is always known for in its identity & mission since its foundation in 1995, i.e. in the spirit & style of the Preventive System of St. John Bosco. During SY 2021 – 2022, after due approval of the Board of Trustees, the junior high school department was opened to boys coming from other elementary schools. Due to the challenges of launching an enrollment campaign during the pandemic, only 5 new male enrollees were added to the roster of Grade 7 students for the school year. 

 

After a brief pilot run of limited face-to-face classes initiated by the Department of Education (DepEd) in November 2021 – January 2022 for selected public and volunteer private schools, other schools in the country were finally allowed to join the expanded implementation of face-to-face classes for the school year 2022 – 2023 after complying with a stringent set of rules and guidelines and passing the on-site evaluation of the school’s readiness to welcome the students back in-person conducted  by teams of evaluators from the Division Office of the DepEd. Eager to give back some normalcy to the life of the MHCians and concerned about the widening learning losses and learning gaps caused by the challenges of a full-online modality, MHCS willingly worked on gaining the DepEd’s approval of its programs and facilities to offer a blended learning modality in addition to the online distance learning mode. 

 

During the enrollment period prior to the school opening, several meetings with present and prospective parents were conducted by the new principal to present the following proposed learning modalities for the SY 2022 – 2023: fully online distance learning (ODL) and Hyflex learning for Kinder to Grade 12. Hyflex learning involves a combination of ODL and in-person in the weekly schedule. The Nursery students, since they are unvaccinated against COVID-19 due to their age, were offered ODL and ODL Plus, a modality that allows them 1 day during the week to attend in-person classes. The decision of the Board of Trustees to accept male enrollees in Senior High School was also communicated.

 

On July 13, 2022, MHCS passed the on-site validation of the DepEd conducted by representatives from the Division of Mabalacat City, attesting to the school’s full compliance with school safety standards for the safe re-opening of hybrid classes. Classes opened on Monday, July 18, 2022, with, thankfully, more students than there were during the precious school year. All students in all grade levels attended the sessions online for the entire first week of school. This was in view of preparing the Hyflex students for their safe return to in-person classes which was to be done in batches, in a phasing-in fashion as a way to keep the crowds under control while the safety and health protocols are still being learned and mastered by the students and their teachers.

 

First to get a taste of the expanded face-to-face classes were the Senior High School students who had their 1st day of face-to-face classes in MHCS last July 27, 2022 after spending 2 fully online school years at home. The day was abuzz with excitement evident even in the masked faces of everyone in the school. The joy of the historical return to in-person classes was temporarily replaced by shock as a Magnitude 7 earthquake with epicenter in Abra jolted also the provinces in northwestern Luzon, including Pampanga, at 8:43 A.M. as the Good Day Talk of the Principal was going on via Zoom for the Senior High School students in the school and the Nursery to Grade 10 students who were online. 

 

The next few days and weeks saw the eventual return to in-person classes of the MHCians enrolled in the Hyflex modality from the other grade levels and the nursery pupils in the ODL Plus modality. Another highlight of this school year was the Education Service Contracting (ESC) re-certification of the school on December 14, 2022 conducted by the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) online. The re-certification results which came out on May 31st, 2023 yielded a 3-year re-certified status until 2026 for MHCS (Pampanga), Inc. Thanks to the hard work of the administration, faculty and staff! The Junior High School students of the school will continue to enjoy the tuition fee subsidy amounting to the designated value for schools in Pampanga. 

 

More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the educational landscape remain fluid as conditions continue to change and transitions have to be made. MHCS is grateful to the audacity of the administration, the dedication and commitment of the faculty and staff, the endless support of the parents, and the openness and trust of the MHCians that enable the school to move ahead in its mission of forming the young, not just to be academically competent and imbued with evangelical values and moral convictions, but as empowered apostles among their peers and builders of true Christian Communities. 

 

As an Educating Community, the sharing of life, collaboration, courage to tread on uncharted paths and unity of vision among the Sisters, the lay mission partners, parents and young people remain strong, and make the school what it is today.

 

Yes, after 28 years, Mary Help of Christians School’s journey of loving service and dedication to young people continues…