History
Glan School of Arts and Trades is
formerly known as Glan Vocational High School
a public vocational secondary school created by Republic Act No. 5379 in 1969
through the authorship of Congressman James L. Chiongbian then representing
lone district South Cotabato. It became
operational in 1971 with enrolment of 152 first year high school students. In
school year 1975-1976, GVHS opened the 2-year Trade Technical Program with an
enrollment of 136 majoring in Technical Electricity, Technical Automotive,
Technical Food Trades, Technical Garment Trades, and Technical Machine Shop. To
follow up the graduates of the two-year trade technical education program, in
school year 1977-1978 the school started the third year of the four-year
industrial teacher education curriculum. The initial students of the diploma
program were the 40 graduates of the trade technical education program. It’s
pioneering school administrator was Lorenzo Hablan Dideles (1971-1977),
followed by Nelson Herrera Dideles (1977-1980), and Juanito Daquigan Abugan
(1980-1989). Concurrently the GSAT is under the stewardship of Antonio Deduro
Jomillo, Jr., one of the first employees of the school.
In 1979, the school administration
requested Assemblyman Jose T. Sison to sponsor a bill changing the name of Glan Vocational
High School. The effort
of Assemblyman Sison brought about the passage of Batas Pambansa Bilang 781
which renamed the school as Glan School of Arts and Trades. The new law,
however, did not change the status of the school into a higher education
institution. Thus, it remained as a technical-vocational school. Nevertheless,
there were many attempts made by the school administration to elevate the
status of the school into a college. The former administrator – the late
Lorenzo H. Dideles – during the Martial Law years worked for a presidential
decree converting the school into Southern Philippines Institute of Technology.
The University of Southern Mindanao then the Mindanao Institute of
Technology also sent feelers to place the school under
its wings when it was working out for the conversation of the college into a
university. Assemblyman Bic-Bic Garcia in the late 1970’s also proposed for the
clustering of General Santos National School of Arts and Trades, Glan School of
Arts and Trades and Bula School of Fishery into a single state college. Through
the resolutions made by the GSAT PTA, the student body, and the Sangguniang
Bayan of Glan, Congressman James L. Chiongbian introduced a bill in the House
of Representatives in 1993 for the conversion of the Glan School of Arts and
Trades into a full-fledged college to be known as Glan Institute of Science and
Technology. The bill reached the third reading in the lower house but its
passage did not prosper because of the moratorium in the creation of state
colleges and universities. In 1996, the bill was filed anew in the House of
Representatives. Again it was not favorably acted upon until the end of the
term of Congressman James L. Chiongbian. House Bill No. 464 (Conversion of GSAT
into a state college to be known as Sarangani Polytechnic State College) was
filed by Congressman Erwin L. Chiongbian in 2006. The enabling bill was passed
by the House of Representatives and is currently deliberated in the Senate. To
facilitate and hasten the conversion of GSAT into a state college so that the
people of Glan and its neighboring municipalities will have access to higher
opportunities, Mayor Enrique B. Yap, Jr. created through an executive order a
task force to spearhead the preparation of the feasibility study and the
gathering of information and document supportive of House Bill No. 464.
When RA No. 7722, otherwise known
as the Commission on Higher Education, was implemented in 1996, the CHED wanted
to get GSAT into its fold because of the collegiate (teacher education) program
and being the only CHED-supervised institution in Region XI. However, the
following year, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA) was quicker to the draw. TESDA created RA No. 7796 of 1995 is mandated to
handle the technical-vocational non-degree programs in the country. It assumed
the roles of the National Manpower Youth Council and the Bureau of
Technical-Vocational Education. GSAT was put under the governance of TESDA for
one school year (1997-1998). Then, another re-organization took place in 1998.
The Glan School of Arts and Trades was re-classified and returned to DECS (now,
DepEd) because of the predominant high school enrolment.
GSAT is disfranchised to offer
degree or baccalaureate programs and also the post-secondary education
programs. Thus, in the school year 2000-2001, GSAT turned out the concluding
batches of industrial teacher education and the trade-technical education
graduates. It was directed by DepEd to phase out the programs and has to
concentrate on the improved delivery of high school education. GSAT is placed
under the supervision of DepEd Sarangani Division.
From a handful of 152 students way
back in 1971, today, the student population is 1,833. GSAT has turned out 6,207
high school graduates as of 2007, discounting its graduates of the two-year
trade-technical education programs and the four-year industrial teacher
education programs.
GSAT has 60 faculty members and 24
facilitative and support personnel. ADJ
