Issue Date
12-2022
Abstract
The Second World War wreaked havoc on lives and properties in the Philippines. It also brought disruption in the routinary life of many Filipinos, which have gone undisturbed despite the various political and socioeconomic problems haunting the archipelago’s “baby steps” towards full independence once more. The negative and disruptive effects of the war may be seen closely in the changes that hit the Commonwealth of the Philippines’ educational system. With the protectorate-style government in exile, the Japanese invaders sought to reinvent the system under their aegis of a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and even as a Second Republic was put in place under Japanese “sponsorship.” This paper argues that the war constricted physical spaces in the Philippines’ educational system. Campuses of schools, colleges, and universities were converted into garrisons and for other non-educational purposes. While the Filipinos sought to navigate the early 1940s’ version of an uneasy “new normal,” Japanese censorship and the wartime atmosphere made it hard for many to accept the changing order of things. Incessant guerilla campaigns, greatly assisted later on by the Liberation campaign of the US forces, eventually forced out the invaders. However, some campuses suffered destruction in the fog of war and fighting.
Source or Periodical Title
U.P. Los Baños Journal
Volume
20
Issue
1
Page
74-93
Document Type
Article
College
College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)
Recommended Citation
Asuncion, Ruben Jeffrey A., "Policies and spaces in the Philippine educational system during the second world war: the case of Laguna" (2022). Journal Article. 5753.
https://www.ukdr.uplb.edu.ph/journal-articles/5753