DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Region III- Central Luzon
Division of Tarlac Province
Tarlac National High School
Special Program in Journalism (SPJ)
Philippines
by Blessedy M. Cervantes, MA.Ed.
June 2014
The Department of Education (DepEd)- Philippines started the implementation of SPJ in 2009. Since then, selected public schools in the country embraced the new program for it primarily aimed to enhance the journalistic writing and broadcasting skills of the students, as well as to prepare the young journalists for the press conferences.
Last year, Tarlac National High School (TNHS)- the oldest public school in the country- began implementing the SPJ in the Grade 7 level. Fifty one (51) students passed the interview, and qualifying test given. Thus, two sections of the SPJ class were created. The Grade 7 SPJ classes had two additional special subjects based in the SPJ Guidelines of DepEd: Journalism I (Basic Journalism) and Advanced English I (Reading to Writing).
This June 2014, TNHS welcomed the second year of the SPJ with 56 new Grade 7 SPJ students.
