History of Davao City National High School

 The Davao City National High School, first known as the Davao Provincial High School had its humble beginning in 1922. Housed in a nipa hut at Magallanes Street, it opened its doors to 67 eager students with Mr. Dominador Fernandez as Officer-in-Charge and later by Mr. Adolfo Casolan as Principal with 3 teachers to help him guide the sixty seven (67) students who were enrolled at the time.

 When the municipality of Davao became a chartered city by virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 51, series of 1937, the name of school was fittingly changed to Davao City High School

 To acccomodate the increasing enrolment, a building was constructed at its present site in 1941. Unfortunately, this building was completely demolished by American bombs in April 1945.

 Afer liberation, classes were resumed temporarily at the Chavez Building at Claveria Street but later in March 1946, the school moved to a more spacious site at Villa Abrille Street. In 1950, Davao City High School finally transferred to its present site along Florentino Torres Street with the area of Sixt Two Thousand and Six Hundred Fifty Seven Square meters (62,657 sq. m.). The spacious site was donated by the Tionko Family.

 With the Nationalization of all Secondary Schools in the country, the school is now called Davao City National High School. Today, it is on its 81st year of existence, it has acquired 36 buildings, an Auditorium, School Library, Learning Centers, Rizal Shrine, Heroes Tree Park and several mini-gardens, Covered pathways, and new comfort room are among the added improvements in the school. The population has soared to more than 8,000 students comprising of 150 sections. It has 270 teachers and 32 administrative and non-teaching staff members.

 DCNHS has been reffered to as the premier public secondary school in Region XI (Davao Region). It has become a leader school in Science, Math, English and the Arts. It is an avenue in implementing different thrusts and programs of DECS/DepEd. In 1994, it implemented the Engineering and Science Education Project (ESEP), a curriculum of DOST catering students good in Science, Math and English and preparing them for engineering courses. In 1997, DCNHS launched Project EASE (Effective, Affordable Secondary Education), an alternative learning system for students who want to finish high school but cannot attend classes regularly because of their disadvantaged situation. In 2000, DCNHS was one of the schools selected to offer the Special Program of the Arts, a nationwide program for students who have demonstrated talents or potentials in the arts like music, visual, theatre and media arts, creative writing and dancing. It was also during this year that DCNHS become a recipient of the AYALA Foundation - Youth Tech Project which provide the school computer laboratory with an Internet Server and LAN Connection. In 2001, Intel Technology Philippines, Inc. (ITP), in coordination with the DepEd and the Foundation for Information for Technology Education, Inc. (FIT.ED.) intesified its partnership with DCNHS by training teachers about using computers and the internet effectively to help meet curriculum goals and to maximize student learning.

 Since February 1999, the school has been under the leadership and management of Mrs. Evelyn P. Mangaron, Principal IV, who aims to maintain and to motivate and energize the teachers and staff to deliver quality educational services to the students. In July of 2004, Mrs. Mangaron retired and Mrs. Aida M. Cloma, a principal from Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School (DRANHS) was promoted to Principal IV and on November 2004, she was installed as the New School Principal of Davao City National High School.

 With the installation of the new principal Mrs. Cloma, the school was awarded as one of the Most Effective Leader School in the region. Further, she hopes to have the school recognized as one of the foremost advocates in the preservation of the environment, leading the effort in the implementation of R.A. 9003, the Solid Waste Management Act.

 At present, the new principal is Mrs.Victorina B. Jacinto. During her administration, a lot of improvements have been made to the school and more opportunities have been given to the teachers and students.

 Moreover, the ever hardworking principal is keen on implementing the Information and Communication Technologies Program (ICT) to at least afford students of the school a chance for computer hands-on, providing them the chance to to the growing demands for technological advancements.