02/09/2025
from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines
Seal of the Week : Philippine Normal University
Blazon: Azure, an open book Argent over a torch or Aflame Proper Rayonnant or, encircled by a wreath of laurel leaves.
๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐: ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐จ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ฌ
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏ: ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐ณ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ณ, ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ณ.
Besides laying down the institutional framework of what is now the modern public school system in the Philippines, Act No. 74 of the Philippine Commission (enacted on 21 January 1901) also provided for the creation of tertiary education institutions for those who wish to pursue further studies: a Normal School for aspiring teachers, a Trade School for those who wish to pursue the skilled trades, as well as an agricultural school in the island of Negros for those who wish to till the land.
Following a one month โpilot testingโ summer term which ran from April to May, the Normal School formally opened its doors to students in September 1901, a week after its pioneering faculty came to Manila from San Francisco aboard the US Army Transport ship โThomas,โ while the Trade School began their classes at the end of the year, pending the arrival of the skilled tradesmen to serve as its instructors. Classes were temporarily held at the building of the former ๐๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ญ in Intramuros and later on at the exposition grounds near the old Observatory run by the Jesuits, pending the construction of the two schoolsโ shared campus in an eight-hectare plot of land immediately east of the old city walls, between the military hospital and the Balete creek near Ermita, which was in times gone by the site of an old Spanish artillery battery.
The architect responsible for the development of the eight-hectare campus, William E. Parsons, divided the property into two parts, with the part facing Taft Avenue to the west allocated to the Normal School and the part facing San Marcelino Street to the east allocated to the Trade School. Parsons also designed the Normal Schoolโs buildings in the Western Mission style, with a flaming torch prominently featured as a decorative motif: Whilst the burning lamp was a common symbol for (higher) education in the western world, the torch of enlightenment has a distinct association with normal schools: unlike the lamp, which only illuminated the path in front of its bearer, the torch provides light and dispels darkness not just for its bearer but for others as well, symbolic of a teacherโs sublime duty to serve as a guiding beacon to their students, sharing the light of knowledge to all others willingly seeking it.
The flaming torch of enlightenment, along with the associated symbols of the open book of knowledge and the laurel wreath of merit, became the basis of the corporate seal that the Normal School would adopt after the Second World War, following the dissolution of its brief twelve-year union with the Trade School and the Commerce School as a polytechnic institution. Being also the symbols of Normal Schoolโs parent body, the Department of Public Instruction (now the Department of Education), they also found their way into the seal motif used in almost all public schools across the Philippines to authenticate diplomas and school records, as well as in the design of the medals awarded to honor students at the end of each school year. The Torch nonetheless remains the foremost symbol integral to the academic culture of what we now know as the Philippine Normal University, being the name of the official student publication and the centerpiece of the universityโs traditional โSuloโ ceremonies, a Junior-Senior pageant where the graduating class literally and figuratively โpasses on the torchโ to their underclassmen.
