Pedro Tamesis Orata (27 February 1899 – 13 July 1989) was a Filipino educator known as the Father of Barrio High Schools.

In 1920, he finished his high school studies in Lingayen as the class valedictorian and, through his sister Victoriana's savings, went to the United States to pursue higher education.

After the liberation of the Philippines in 1945, Orata was appointed as "Director of Education" in Urdaneta with the task of reopening the schools.

He gathered doctors, lawyers, engineers, pharmacists, and other professionals to establish a school in a roofless church divided into four sections by lines drawn on the floor.

[5] In 1948, Orata was appointed as a staff member of the UNESCO in Paris[3] and in 1960 was designated as the first Dean of the Graduate School and then director of curriculum development at the Philippine Normal College.

In 1971, Orata received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in recognition of his "44 years of creative work in education, particularly his conception and promotion of barrio high schools for rural Filipino youth.