It is the year that the Waray-speaking area was ranked by the Department of Education (DepEd) as the No. 1 among the country’s 17 regions in terms of academic performance.

EV’s commendable academic record is revealed by the results of the 2005 National Achievement Test (NAT) administered to all Grade 6 and fourth year students in DepEd’s over 40,000 public elementary and secondary schools nationwide.

Dr. Sol. Forcadilla Matugas, director of DepEd in Eastern Visayas in this town, said the NAT seeks to measure the academic achievement levels of graduating elementary and high school students in English, Science, Mathematics, Filipino and Social Studies.

Matugas said that a DepEd statistical report ranked EV as topnotcher in the NAT for both Grade 6 and senior high school children with Caraga and Ilocos placing second and third, respectively, in both grade levels.

In the Grade 6 NAT, Matugas said, EV registered the highest general mean percentage score (MPS) of 69.15 in the five subjects with Caraga getting an MPS of 68.93 and Ilocos, 63.88.

According to Matugas, EV submitted the best general MPS of 58.55 in the fourth year NAT which was 3.11 percent higher than second placer Caraga’s 55.44 and 7.73 percent over this placer Ilocos’ 50.82.

Matugas said DepEd also listed Naval (Biliran) Central Elementary School’s Special Education Center as the nation’s overall topnotcher in the NAT for Grade 6 after it recorded the highest general MPS of 94.08 among some 35,000 participating elementary schools.

She added that of the Top 10 school divisions in the fourth year NAT, six, including the No. 1, come from EV. These are Ormoc City which placed first; Northern Samar, third; Southern Leyte, fourth; Eastern Samar, fifth; western Samar, Sixth, and Calbayog City, 10th.

Matugas said that Ormoc City again emerged as DepEd’s No. 1 school division in the Grade 6 NAT where three other EV division also barged into list of highest 10 divisions – namely, Southern Leyte which placed second; Eastern Samar, sixth, and Biliran, ninth.

The DepEd-Eastern Visayas chief said four local institutions were also chosen among the nation’s top 10 performing secondary schools last year. They were Ormoc City’s Rustico Capahi Sr. National High School (NHS), Northern Samar’s Lope de Vega NHS, Eastern Samar’s Hilabaan NHS, and Western Samar’s Almagro NHS which ranked sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.

Matugas traced EV’s laudable academic achievement in 2005 to the local teachers’ dedication and commitment coupled with the strong support of parents, communities and local governments.