JOSE VASQUEZ AGUILAR, believing inspiration may come from the leaders but the force that makes a nation strong and free must come from the people themselves, has pioneered in making the education offered through our public schools come alive for the "forgotten masses." From the year he first taught in the one-teacher school of his home barrio, as only an intermediate school graduate, he has devoted his energies to this work.
His first successful trial in 1938, using the public schools to persuade a community of Capiz to plant two rice crops instead of one, encouraged him to test his theories on a wider scale when he became Division Superintendent of Public Schools in Iloilo. There he developed his community school concept. An integral part of his Iloilo experiment was the use of the vernacular as the medium of instruction in the first primary grades, as a natural and firm link between the schools and the people. The Bureau of Public Schools supported his effort. Other superintendents adopted some of his methods and evolved new ones of their own and, subsequently, the Bureau incorporated the community school scheme and the use of the vernacular in its national program.
While in Iloilo, he was the first superintendent to take the initiative of requesting an evaluation of his school system, indicating the progressive spirit of the teachers and his own high sense of educational leadership. He had the courage to depart from established practices and then to have his work put to the test.
The name of CHINTAMAN DWARKANATH DESHMUKH has come to be synonymous in India with integrity in government service. His distinguished career began at the age of 24 as a member of the Indian CiviI Service. It was as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, his country's premier financial institution, that he became well known as an independent-minded stabilizing force. He introduced basic reforms, instituted the salutary practice of giving annually a complete picture of the national economy, and also played a prominent role in international finance as India's delegate to a series of monetary conferences.
Shri DESHMUKH's greatest test came with his appointment in 1950 as Union Finance Minister. Now in politics, he continued to express his opinions frankly and honestly irrespective of whether such advice might adversely affect his political future. In this position during the expansive period of the First Five-Year Plan, he was again a steadying influence and succeeded in maintaining strict financial control over expenditures of public funds.
When he resigned in 1956 over a difference of opinion on policy, he retained the confidence of both Government and the Congress Party and became Chairman of the University Grants Commission, responsible for coordinating and maintaining standards of teaching and education in universities throughout India. The quality of scholarly competence and sound reason that he has brought to this work is being felt in the universities.
Adhering personally to Spartan discipline and holding sensitive posts at a critical time in India's development, he has set, by his example, a standard to follow. In the tradition of Ramon Magsaysay, who, in the realm of public policy, initiated bold and untried measures, Dr. AGUILAR has been a farsighted innovator. And as a dedicated educator he has set a standard to emulate.
In electing CHINTAMAN DWARKANATH DESHMUKH and JOSE VASQUEZ AGUILAR, to share the 1959 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, the Board of Trustees recognizes their exemplary performance in the service of their respective governments. As our late President regarded government office as a public trust, so has this ideal characterized the careers of the one in India and the other in the Philippines.
