PCGE Launches Search for ‘New Jose Rizals’

Quezon City (PIA) — The Philippine Center for the Gifted Education (PCGE) has opened the nominations for bright, gifted youth who could be ‘new Jose Rizals’.

“Dr. Jose Rizal is the epitome of the Filipino gifted,” said Dr. Leticia Peñano-Ho, clinical psychologist and head of the Philippine Center for Gifted Education (PCGE), during the press conference of the National Week for the Gifted and Talented 2014 in Quezon City.

In 2011, which was the sesquicentennial birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal, the PCGE launched the Mga Bagong Rizal: Pag-asa ng Bayan Awards, a biennial nationwide search for bright and gifted young Filipinos who embody the essential characteristics of the country’s national hero.

Ho said that there will be 17 “bagong Rizals” for 2014, one awardee for each region.

Ho said that nominees should be anywhere from Grade 3 to college level, from public or private schools or those taking up vocational course. Out-of-school-youth (OSY) showing exemplary traits are also qualified.

Nominees should also be part of the top five percent of their class. In the case of OSYs, they should be part of the top 5 percent of the last class they attended.

Nominees must have been recognized for outstanding ability or excellence in any of the fields as confirmed by awards from reputable organizations: logical-mathematical intelligence; linguistic intelligence; visual-spatial intelligence; musical intelligence; bodily-kinesthetic intelligence; interpersonal intelligence; intrapersonal intelligence; and naturalistic intelligence.

Ho said that the nominees should also exhibit passion and love of country, just like Jose Rizal.

Filipinos residing in the Philippines, schools, communities, religious groups, government agencies, and other organizations are all welcome to nominate their candidates.

Nominations for Mga Bagong Rizal: Pag-asa ng Bayan Awards will be accepted from December 1, 2014 until March 14, 2015.

Aside from opening Mga Bagong Rizal nominations, PCGE is also set to hold a seminar workshop on counseling the gifted at the UP College of Education on November 29.

The group will conclude the week-long celebration with a kite-flying event at the Quezon Memorial Circle on November 30.

The last week of November was declared as National Week for the Gifted and Talented by former President Joseph Estrada through Presidential Proclamation No. 199 signed on Oct 19, 1999, in order to raise awareness on gifted Filipinos.

The PCGE is a non-stock, non-profit organization, envisioned to actively search for high ability and gifted Filipinos across the life span and provide ways of nurturing them.

More specifically, says the PCGE brochure, it intends to reach the disadvantaged sector which oftentimes misses the opportunity to be identified, more so nurtured for their abilities. The center hopes to harness the private sector in providing for this population. (PIA-NCR/RJB/SDL)