Philippine Normal University
The Philippine Normal University is a public coeducational teacher education and research university in the Philippines. It was established in 1901 through Act No. 74 of the Philippine Commission "for the education of natives of the Islands in the science of teaching". It has campuses in Manila, North Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Pursuant to Republic Act No. 9647, it is the country's National Center for Teacher Education.
In addition to the powers and functions provided for in its charter, the university is mandated to conduct researches, build and develop a database of education policies, and provide technical support to the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education, as well as assistance to the Congress of the Philippines, in the design and analysis of programs, projects, and legislative proposals concerning teacher training, teacher education, continuing professional education of teachers and academic supervisors, teacher education curricula, and other issues affecting teacher education.
History
Early history
The Philippine Normal University was originally established as the Philippine Normal School, an institution for the training of teachers, by virtue of Act No. 74 of the Philippine Commission enacted on January 21, 1901. It opened on September 1, 1901, on the site of a former Spanish normal school in the Escuela Municipal in Intramuros.Provincial normal schools were also established in different parts of the country as branches of the PNS such as the Cebu Normal School, Iloilo Normal School, Zamboanga Normal School, and an experimental vacation school in Laoag that became the North Luzon State College in 1976.
For more than two decades, PNS offered a two-year general secondary education program. In 1928 it became a junior college offering a two-year program to graduates of secondary schools.
In 1944, during World War II, the PNS building housed the National Library of the Philippines after the Legislative Building was occupied by Japanese soldiers. However, after two weeks, the PNS building was also occupied and some of the collections were moved to the Manila City Hall. The war-damaged school buildings were reconstructed under the Philippine Rehabilitation Act of 1946.
Conversion into college
When PNS was converted into the Philippine Normal College in 1949 through Republic Act No. 416, the four-year Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education program was introduced. Subsequently, other undergraduate programs started, such as the Bachelor of Science in Education with specialization in Elementary Education; a BSEE major in Home Economics; and a three-year Combined Home Economics diploma.In 1953, the Graduate School was established. PNC included the Master of Arts in Education curriculum in the academic program. The organization of a full-fledged Graduate School came five years later.
PNC established branches in Negros Occidental, Agusan del Sur, and Isabela by virtue of Republic Act No. 4242 of 1965. The law also called for the establishment of branches in the Jolo-Tawi-Tawi area and Marinduque but it was not realized.
In 1970 the Bachelor of Science in Education curriculum, offering major and minor subjects, was introduced. The passage of Republic Act No. 6515 in July 1972, which amended Republic Act No. 416, paved the way for the offering of the Doctor of Education and the Doctor of Philosophy degrees and the provision of other academic programs relevant to the in-service training of teachers, school supervisors, administrators, researchers, and other education specialists and personnel.
Aside from the creation of campuses, the college expanded its services, most significant of which was its designation as the Curriculum Development Center for Communication Arts under the Language Study Center-Educational Development Projects Implementing Task Force Project and afterward as Center of Excellence in English, Filipino and Values Education. Its major functions included the development of English and Filipino textbooks and teacher manuals for use in public elementary and secondary schools nationwide, and the conduct of national level trainers-training programs for the Bureau of Secondary Education, Department of Education, Culture and Sports, and the Fund for Assistance to Private Education.
University status
The school was elevated to university status on December 26, 1991, by Republic Act No. 7168.A fourth campus was constructed in Quezon province in 1993. The university was designated as Center of Excellence in Teacher Education for the National Capital Region and Center of Excellence in Filipino at the national level.
On September 1, 2001, the university celebrated its centennial founding anniversary.
In 2008, it was declared as the country's National Center for Teacher Education by virtue of Republic Act No. 9647.
In 2011, PNU convened a group of state universities that were founded as normal schools during the American period – Bicol University, Bukidnon State University, Cebu Normal University, Leyte Normal University, Mariano Marcos State University, Palawan State University, Pangasinan State University, West Visayas State University, and Western Mindanao State University – to establish the National Network of Normal Schools. The group aims to promote collaboration and cooperation in research, professional development, extension, and a local student Erasmus Mundus program.
In 2014, PNU, together with other teacher education institutions in Southeast Asia, established the Association of Southeast Asian Teacher Education Network which became an entity associated with ASEAN on March 29, 2021. The current members of the organization include Seri Begawan Religious Teachers University College, the National Institute of Education, Indonesia University of Education, National University of Laos, Sultan Idris Education University, Yangon University of Education, the National Institute of Education of the Nanyang Technological University, Kasetsart University, and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Campuses
The university has five campuses. The flagship and oldest campus is in Manila while the four non-autonomous branches are in different parts of the country.Republic Act No. 4242, approved on June 19, 1965, established the North Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao branches. The South Luzon branch started through a consortium with the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in 1980.
In 2012, the regional branches were designated as university hubs for specific advocacies in response to regional demands and were later renamed in 2014.
As of May 2018, three campuses are recognized by the Commission on Higher Education as Centers of Excellence in Teacher Education.
| Campus | Location | Opened | Designation |
| Manila | 1901 | Main Campus Center of Excellence in Teacher Education | |
| Alicia, Isabela | 1971 | Indigenous Peoples Education Hub Center of Excellence in Teacher Education | |
| South Luzon | Lopez, Quezon | 1980 | Technology and Livelihood Education Hub |
| Visayas | Cadiz, Negros Occidental | 1968 | Environment and Green Technology Education Hub |
| Mindanao | Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur | 1968 | Multicultural Education Hub Center of Excellence in Teacher Education |
PNU Manila
PNS first occupied the building of the Escuela Municipal in Intramuros then moved to the old Exposition Grounds in Ermita, now occupied by the Philippine General Hospital, after a year. In 1912, it transferred to its present location at the corner of Taft Avenue and Ayala Boulevard.The campus occupies a 3.7-hectare lot in Ermita, the civic center of Manila. Within its vicinity are the Manila City Hall, SM City Manila, the main campus of the Technological University of the Philippines, Rizal Park, the National Museum of Anthropology, and the National Museum of Fine Arts.
Its two oldest buildings, the Geronima T. Pecson Hall and Normal Hall, were designed by American architect William E. Parsons using the California Mission style. The construction was then budgeted at ₱374,000. The main building was built in 1912 and was originally called the Philippine Normal School Building. The Normal Hall, meanwhile, was constructed in 1914 and served as a student dormitory. In addition, the university's Faculty Center was the former Training Department Building, reconstructed in 1950 and used as a training center for teachers.
These 3 buildings were declared National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum of the Philippines in 2018.
PNU North Luzon
PNU North Luzon is the third regional branch of the university established by Republic Act No. 4242, principally authored by then-Isabela Lone District Representative Delfin Albano.The branch was housed at the Home Economics Building of Alicia Central School when it opened on July 26, 1971. After a year, it moved to its present 5-hectare site in Brgy. Aurora donated by Rev. Cornelio Tomas of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and by the Abuan family.
PNU South Luzon
The campus started through a consortium program in Teacher Education with a then-emerging campus of PUP. When the consortium agreement expired in 1993, a memorandum of agreement was signed by PNC, the provincial government of Quezon, the municipal government of Lopez, and the then Department of Education, Culture and Sports, to continue the operation of the PNU Teacher Education Program.The branch stayed in the compound of the Lopez National Comprehensive High School from 1993 to 1999 before moving to its present site donated by the provincial and municipal governments.