Tangible Symbol of LITERACY
The Nueva Ecija High School (NEHS)was the offshoot of the Wright Institute first established in the erstwhile political center of San Isidro town, about 26 kilometers south of Cabanatuan, in the early 1900s. It was a time when the Americans were setting up social and cultural influences in the province which, like other Philippine territories, had earlier been dominated by the Spaniards.
The Wright Institute was first housed in the town hall (municipio) of San Isidro; the intermediate classes were held at the site of then provincial capitol. In 1927, the Wright Institute system was transferred to Cabanatuan after the latter was found an ideal site for socio-political development in Nueva Ecija.
The Wright Institute was opened in San Isidro as the first public high school outside Manila in October 1905. It was named after Governor-General Luke Wright.
Said Institute was established through the effort of town leader Crispulo Sideco against the strong opposition of the people from Gapan thinking their children would be left behind by the luckier San Isidro children. "Upon his assumption of office as Acting Governor, he learned of the petition by the people of Gapan to establish the school in their town. San Isidro was the capital of Nueva Ecija and thus had the right to have the school. Besides, he was Acting Governor,and there were many families who would benefit in his hometown. He also foresaw that it would be good for the economy of the town so he resolved to have the school established in San Isidro," recalled Mariano Sideco, the son of Crispulo, in "The History of San Isidro" by Leonila C. Gonzales.
The first curriculum of Wright Institute consisted of English, History, Economics, Mathematics, Biology, Physics and Latin.
From 1901 to 1910, Mr. T. W. Thompson, the schools division superintendent based in San Fernando, Pampanga, managed Wright Institute. After him, the other education officials who alternately looked over the school were Whipple, Coddington, Hitchcock, Whipple, Millen and Whipple.
As repeatedly told, even as there was no solid reason presented, political changes in Nueva Ecija needed the transfer of the school to Cabanatuan in 1927. It then started to be known as Nueva Ecija High School. It was also the time that NEHS began to etch an outstanding reputation. "Its teachers were considered among the best in the public schools, and... it graduated several students who later made distinguised careers," wrote Lewis Gleeck Jr. in his book "Nueva Ecija in the Early American Times". Nobody knew that NEHS would loom larger than how its forerunners thought it to be; how this small-town school erected out of the proverbial ruins of the Philippine revolution would become a tangible symbol of literacy in this part of Nueva Ecija.
