Don Bosco Institute Tarlac, Inc. (DB Tarlac) is the first Salesian institution founded in the Philippines. As a school, it began in 1947 under the leadership of Fr. James J. Wilson, a Diocesan priest. It was then named St. John Bosco Academy. In 1974, it was named Don Bosco Technical Institute. Up to now, it continues to serve the Church and society through the animation of the Salesians of Don Bosco and the Educative Pastoral Community. In 1960, Don Bosco Academy – Tarlac acquired substantial laboratories with facilities and apparatuses through the able initiative of Fr. George Schwarz, SDSB, and the generous assistance of the German people. More structures were constructed under Fr. George’s administration. In 1967, two classroom buildings were constructed. In 1968, a workshop was constructed and in 1971, a library.
It started its technical curriculum in 1974, and four years later, it adapted a name and came to be known as Don Bosco Technical Institute – Tarlac. From a student population of 80 in 1947, it has grown to more than 1300 at present.
The school has undergone natural and man-made calamities. In 1990, an earthquake jolted the province of Tarlac and neighboring provinces. The school was not spared by this phenomenon. The main building housing the convent, the biochemistry laboratory, ten classrooms and some offices were damaged. By the generosity of the Salesian Congregation and the people of Germany, this building was renovated and inaugurated on January 31, 1991.
In the year 2014, the school, under the leadership of Rev. Fr. Jayson B. David, SDB, continued to flourish both in numbers and in structures. The school boasts of its 14 teachers and staff who are alumni of this school. The school, at present, has about 65 Don Bosco Youth Center (DBYC) scholars. 51 of them are studying at DBTI and 14 are being supported in their studies outside DBTI. The DBYC are being supported by alumni batches and by projects made by the alumni board and by Student Council of Batches 2013, 2014 and 2015. Other projects of the school get their support from generous alumni like the project “Fueling the Fund” of Total Gas Station where for every liter, one (1) peso will be donated to the school’s projects.
