San Mateo Catholic Academy of Bacolod 3.96

San Mateo Chaplaincy comprises nine (9) Basic Ecclesial Communities and most of its parishioners were attending Eucharistic Celebration at Sta. Clara Chapel. Although, a little chapel at San Mateo was constructed through the efforts of the Catholic Charismatic, it only functioned as venue for catechism, prayer meetings and village social activities.

In 1990, the residents of Sta. Clara Subdivision decided to enclose their subdivision with concrete towering walls for their own safety thus, depriving the parishioners of San Mateo Chaplaincy to attend mass in their church.

But what was consoling to note was that the rich residents of Sta. Clara organized a tithing community. They had agreed that 25% of their tithes would go to the church construction, 25% to the construction of the school buildings, 25% would go to the livelihood programs o the residents of the depressed areas and the remaining 25% would be allotted to the health care of the residents of San Mateo Chaplaincy. However, livelihood project and health care programs failed.

Through the efforts of our first priest, the late Msgr. Rodolfo Pacheco and the Sta. Clara Tithing Community, the school was constructed in 1995, two years after the church was built. His aim was to provide free education to the poor but deserving children and in turn the children will bring the spirit of Christianity to their respective homes and to the community where they live.

The school first opened last June 10, 1996 with a two-classroom building and with a total of 85 children in nursery, kindergarten and preparatory classes.

Permit to operate was granted in 1996 by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) and Government Recognition was granted on June 16, 2003, with Government Recognition No. ER-19, s. 1999 (K1 and 2), G.R No. ER-20, s. 1999 (Grade I - II) and G.R. No. ER-14, s. 2003 (Grade III - VI).

Today, we are now in a 2-storey building with 7 classrooms, 1 faculty room, a small library, principal’s office and 2 comfort rooms.

A K-12 Curriculum mandated by the Department of Education (DepEd) is now being implemented in the school with Christian Doctrine as the core of the curriculum.