NOHS History

Negros Oriental High School originally known as “Provincial School”, opened in Dumaguete on September 1, 1902 with Miss Rebecca E. Berry as Teacher-In-Charge. It was located in one whole block where the City Hall, the Arnaiz Lumber Yard, the Fire Department, the east City Central School Buildings, and Puericulture Center are now found. It started with an enrolment of some 40 pupils, mostly from Dumaguete, and the rest from the various towns. Its opening was steeped in controversy, for Mr. George W. Beattie, the Provincial Supervisor did not think a secondary school was needed in Negros Oriental.

At that time, the Negros Oriental “Provincial School” was one of the 23 high schools in the country.

As early as 1903, the Provincial High School had an enrolment of 101, with students coming from even the most distant towns. That year, it had its first Principal in the person of Mr. Fred J. Bailey, who had previously served as an elementary school teacher in Lazi, Siquijor. The other teachers of the Provincial School were Miss Rebecca E. Berry (who shortly would become the wife of the Rev. Walter O. Mc Intire, of Silliman Institute) and Mrs. E.G. Lee, wife of the Division Superintendent. In 1904, Mrs. McIntire left the public school to join her husband at Silliman.

On July 1903, the Provincial Board of Negros Oriental appropriated $65 gold for the support of the Provincial High School and $450 gold to erect a school building of light materials. In 1904, the Municipal Government of Dumaguete made available for the site of the Provincial School a tract of land with an area of about six acres (more than two hectares), extending from the town plaza to the sea. A two-storey building facing the sea was constructed, which was later reduced into a one-storey building because of termites and typhoon. Presently, this area is the large Dumaguete City block which encompasses the City Hall, the City Central Elementary School, the Puriculture Center and the Fire Department.

In 1904 also, the Provincial Board obtained a loan of P20,000.00 pesos from the Insular Government in order to build a “central recitation building” and two dormitory cottages. This information comes from a report dated September 6, 1904, sent by Dr. David P. Barrows, General Superintendent of Education, to the secretary of Public Instruction.

Although the “Provincial School” was ranked at the secondary level, up to 1912, it was actually still at the elementary level, when compared to education in the United States. In 1910, the highest grade it opened was Grade V, Grade VI and VII soon followed in the next two years.

In 1913, urged by the need for a secondary education and increasing enrolment, the First Year class was formed with 20 students.

As Silliman Institute did not admit girls until 1912, the Provincial School was the only institution in Negros Oriental where girls could obtain secondary education. Thus, its enrolment representing both sexes rose to 150 in 1904, 249 in 1914 and 479 in 1916.

In 1915-1916, through the efforts of Mr. B.P. Osborn, the Principal, the first Junior class was organized.

In June 1919, a Senior class was organized under the efforts of M.J.C. Early, an American Division Superintendent of Schools, and Mr. Spencer Aldrich, the Principal. During this time most faculty members were Americans with few highly competent Filipinos.

April 25, 1920 marked the first Commencement Exercises in which eleven (11) students received their diplomas.

From 1915 to 1935, there were fourteen (14) Principals appointed, all of which were Americans. Consequently, from 1935 until the present, Filipino Principals were appointed.

It was in the year 1931 when the Provincial School main building was constructed, finished after a year in 1932. The main building was constructed with strong materials under Act No. 1801 authored by Assemblyman Isauro Gabaldon of Nueva Ecija, known as the Gabaldon Act.

The school has a total land area of 20,344 sq. meters or 2.5 hectares owned by the Provincial Government donated to the Bureau of Public Schools. Presently, the school had been expanded to accommodate a big number of students, with 24 buildings and 79 classrooms.

Negros Oriental High School is directly under the supervision of the Department of Education Division Of Negros Oriental and is being regulated by the existing guidelines of the Basic Education Act of 2001 of governance of Basic Education Curriculum which was first implemented in SY 2002-2003 for the Second Year to Fourth Year Students. Under this curriculum, there are five (5) learning areas; Araling Panlipunan (AP) , Music Arts Physical Education and Health (MAPEH), Technology Livelihood Education (TLE) and Edukasyong Pagpapahalaga (EP). With the introduction of the SEC 2010 (Secondary Education Curriculum) with the approach, Understanding by Design (UbD), subjects in the second year curriculum followed the new curriculum while the third and fourth years followed BEC as manded by the Department of Education.

The Grade VII follows the Enhanced K-12 Basic Education Program based on Republic Act 10533 an act enhancing the Philippine Basic Education system by strengthening its curriculum and increasing the number of years for basic education, appropriating funds therefore and for other purposes. With this enhanced curriculum, secondary education consist of four (4) years of junior high school and two (2) years of senior high school education providing sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship. Like the BEC, the K to 12 has five (5) learning areas. However, subjects in Junior High School are connected and integrated to ensure mastery of knowledge and skills after each level.

Senior High School is two years of specialized upper secondary education; students may choose a specialization based on aptitude, interests, and school capacity. The choice of career track will define the content of the subjects a student will take in Grades 11 and 12. SHS subjects fall under either the Core Curriculum or specific Tracks. There are seven Learning Areas under the Core Curriculum. These are Languages, Literature, Communication, Mathematics, Philosophy, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences. Current content from some General Education subjects are embedded in the SHS curriculum.

Each student in Senior High School can choose among three tracks: Academic; Technical- Vocational-Livelihood; and Sports and Arts. The Academic track includes three strands: Business, Accountancy, Management (BAM); Humanities, Education, Social Sciences (HESS); and Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM). Students undergo immersion, which may include earn-while-you-learn opportunities, to provide them relevant exposure and actual experience in their chosen track.

The Special Program in Sports is a curriculum designed by the Department of Education to institutionalize a program that will discover students with potential talent in sports and hone their skills for higher levels of athletic competitions. This year, Negros Oriental High School starts to offer this program to Grade VII students.

Negros Oriental High School also offers the Alternative Learning System (ALS) and the Open High School Program (OHSP). The Alternative Learning System is a ladderized modular non~formal education program in the Philippines for dropouts in elementary and secondary schools, out-of-school youths, non-readers, working Filipinos and even senior citizens. It is an alternative to the regular classroom studies where Filipino students are required to attend daily. The alternative system only requires students to choose schedules according to their choice and availability.

The Open High School Program (OHSP) is a distance learning program for high school students who are unable to attend regular classes due to physical, economic and geographical limitations. Although this is a distance learning program, the OHSP is still considered as a “formal and structured” program with students learning structured around eight core subjects (English, Filipino, Math, Science, Araling Panlipunan and MAPEH). Students also take the same exams and other evaluation measures to proceed to next year level. In NOHS, the modular set up is applied wherein teachers use modules in teaching students on their agreed schedule (except in the case of Marikina National High School, which sets one day of schooling a week, per year level). These modules, which are similar to textbook , are taken home by students for self-study.