ALLAN Rey Pajo Cagadas was already a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Electronics Engineering graduate when he “heard the teaching profession’s call.”
Cagadas, who took up Bachelor of Elementary Education in Southwestern University (SWU) as his second course placed fourth in the March 2016 elementary-teachers’ board exam.
Apart from being the highest ranking exam taker, with an average of 89.80 in Region VII, Cagadas was also SWU’s first topnotcher since the university’s founding in 1946.
He immediately went to church upon hearing the news from his sister-in-law that he was a topnotcher in the board exam.
“It’s an amazing feeling and I wasn’t expecting it. Being a teacher is a calling and I must heard the call,” Cagadas said in a phone interview with Sun.star Cebu.
Cagadas said he took up elementary education as a second course when his colleagues at work told him that he has a knack for teaching.
Aside from studying hard, he also regularly goes to church.
He will receive P75,000 in cash from the university as incentive.
SWU Vice President for Academic Affairs Jose Gatino Nacario, in a separate interview, said that Cagadas’ achievement was unexpected and timely with the university’s ongoing works on redefining their curriculum.
Nacario said apart from the cash incentive, talks with the university’s Human Resources Department on Cagadas’ employment at SWU is now at work.
Cagadas was one of the 12,128 elementary teachers out of the 42,739 examinees that passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) held last March 20.
There were also 8,810 secondary teachers out of 53,090 examinees who passed the LET.
Also in the ninth place, with an average of 87.90 percent, were Kent Apa Hiyas and Kimberly Hope Largo, both from the University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue (UCLM).
The licensure examination was conducted in 20 testing centers in the Philippines. JOB and RTF, Sun.Star Cebu correspondents