HISTORY

The Commonwealth Elementary School is located in Quezon City, Philippines. It has an average enrollment of eight thousand (8,000) pupils yearly. The school is one of the biggest elementary schools in the country and is one of the most populous grade schools in Southeast Asia.

               The school was established in 1973 by Mrs. Maria Deyro-Galang, a mother of 10 children, and the wife of Mr. Condrado Galang a school teacher of Caloocan High school. That time there was no school close to Barangay General Auditing Office (GAO), Quezon City where she lived. Knowing the importance of education, Mrs. Deyro-Galang devoted her spare time to building a school that would teach the young children in the barangay. 

               Mrs. Deyro-Galang met with Hon. Inocencio Deyro, Barangay Captain of GAO (now Commonwealth) and the older brother of Mrs. Deyro-Galang, classrooms were constructed using roofing material to serves as walls, bamboo, and nipa.

               The school started as a primary school and was an annex of the Balara Elementary School. Before its existence, children from Commonwealth attended classes in the Balara Elementary School, which was approximately 5 kilometers away. Many children were often absent from their classes. Some of them opted to drop out of school due to the distance of the school from their residence and poverty.  

               Initially, in 1973 only four (4) classes were opened. In 1974, it became a complete elementary school with one class per grade level. Classes were housed in a temporary building constructed from nipa and sawali. The first principal of the school was Mr. Mateo C. Tayamen and was supported by 22 teachers. During the school’s first operation as an independent school, its catchment area covered the whole Manggahan formerly called Barrio Manggahan extending to Don Jose and Fairview subdivisions; the Riverside and Kalayaan up to Diliman and part of the La Mesa Dam called Waterhole at present.  The whole Fairview and Kalayaan up to Diliman are part of the neighboring schools.