TL;DR: There were four academic strands, all inside the Academic Track: STEM, ABM, HUMSS and GAS, defined by DepEd Order No. 21, s. 2019, Annex 2. That layer no longer exists for learners on the current curriculum. DepEd Order No. 017, s. 2026 removed strands and replaced them with five clusters of electives, and the order states plainly that clusters are not strands because schools need not offer everything inside one and learners may pick across several. Grade 12 learners in non-pilot schools during SY 2026-2027 are the last cohort still on strands. If you are choosing for Grade 11 now, you are choosing a track and then electives, not a strand.
Search volume for "academic strands" has not caught up with the policy. Most of what is written about the four strands is still accurate for exactly one grade level, and misleading for everyone else. This guide gives the four names, what each actually contained, who is still on them, and what each became.
The Four Strands, Side by Side
| Strand | Full name | What made it distinctive | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEM | Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics | Its own mathematics and laboratory science sequence; two core subjects swapped for Earth Science and Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction | Grade 12 only in SY 2026-2027 |
| ABM | Accountancy, Business and Management | Accounting, finance, economics and marketing subjects, ending in Business Enterprise Simulation | Grade 12 only in SY 2026-2027 |
| HUMSS | Humanities and Social Sciences | Four humanities and four social science subjects, plus a culminating activity | Grade 12 only in SY 2026-2027 |
| GAS | General Academic Strand | No subject list of its own; borrowed from HUMSS and ABM plus two free electives | Grade 12 only in SY 2026-2027 |
The first thing to notice is that GAS is structurally unlike the other three. It was designed for learners who had not decided and for schools too small to run four separate strands, so its subject table pulls Humanities 1 and 2 and Social Science 1 from HUMSS, Applied Economics and Organization and Management from ABM, Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction from the STEM special core subjects, and then leaves two elective slots open to any track or strand.
The second is that all four sat under one track. Academic was the track; these four were the strands inside it. TVL, Sports and Arts and Design were tracks, not academic strands, which is why "TVL strand" was always a slight misnomer. Our track versus strand guide unpicks that in full.
What Each Strand Actually Contained
A 2016-structure senior high school learner took 15 core subjects plus 16 track subjects. Seven of the 16 were applied subjects taken by every track in a contextualised form; the rest were the strand-specific specialised subjects. Those specialised lists are what people mean when they ask what a strand "has."
- STEM carried Pre-Calculus, Basic Calculus, General Biology 1 and 2, General Physics 1 and 2, General Chemistry 1 and 2, and the work immersion or research culminating activity. Because Physical Science and Earth and Life Science duplicated content STEM learners were already covering, STEM learners took Earth Science and Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction as special core subjects instead. That is a detail most online strand lists get wrong: DRRR was a core subject for STEM, not a specialised one. Full detail is in our STEM strand guide.
- ABM ran Applied Economics, Business Ethics and Social Responsibility, Fundamentals of Accountancy, Business and Management 1 and 2, Business Math, Business Finance, Organization and Management, Principles of Marketing, and Business Enterprise Simulation as the culminating activity. See our ABM strand guide.
- HUMSS ran Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction, Introduction to World Religions and Belief Systems, Community Engagement, Solidarity and Citizenship, Philippine Politics and Governance, Trends, Networks and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century, and the two Disciplines and Ideas subjects. See our HUMSS strand guide.
- GAS drew on the lists above, as described. See our GAS strand guide.
Who Is Still on a Strand
This is the question that decides whether the four names above matter to you at all.
| Learner | Structure that applies |
|---|---|
| Grade 11 from SY 2026-2027 onward | Two tracks, no strands, five Academic Track elective clusters |
| Grade 12 in a non-pilot school, SY 2026-2027 | Four tracks and named strands, under the 2016 structure |
| Grade 12 in a pilot school, SY 2026-2027 | Strengthened SHS Curriculum; confirm pilot status with the school |
| Grade 12 from SY 2027-2028 onward | No strands |
So strand-based guidance is not obsolete yet. It is simply narrow: it describes one grade level, in most schools, for one more school year.
What Replaced the Strand Layer
DO 017, s. 2026 leaves two tracks, Academic and Technical-Professional, and inside the Academic Track puts five clusters of electives:
| Cluster | Rough territory |
|---|---|
| Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities | Creative industries, literature, Filipino, philosophy, governance, social sciences |
| Business and Entrepreneurship | Accounting, business finance and taxation, business economics, marketing, entrepreneurship, organisation and management |
| Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics | Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth and Space Science sequences, Pre-Calculus, Basic Calculus, data and database subjects |
| Sports, Health and Wellness | Human movement, physical education, coaching, officiating, first aid, basic life support |
| Field Experience | Arts apprenticeship, design and innovation, research, field exposure, work immersion |
The order defines a cluster as "a grouping of Electives for operational purposes" and then says the important part out loud: clusters "are distinct from strands, as schools are not required to offer all Electives within a cluster, and learners may select Electives across multiple clusters." A learner may take STEM-cluster electives alongside a business elective and a research subject, if the school offers them.
That flexibility comes with a constraint people underestimate. The elective lists in Annex A carry a prerequisite column. Biology 4 needs Biology 1, 2 and 3. Basic Calculus and Advanced Mathematics both need Pre-Calculus. So Grade 11 elective choices still shape what is reachable in Grade 12, which is the one way clusters behave a little like strands. Our Academic Track guide covers the hour and subject requirements in detail.
Reading a School's Offering in the Transition
Schools advertise in the vocabulary their families use, which means you will still see "strands offered" on leaflets and enrolment posts for schools that have moved to clusters. Two questions cut through it:
- Which grade level are you describing? A school can truthfully advertise STEM for its outgoing Grade 12 and clusters for its incoming Grade 11 in the same school year.
- Which electives, not which cluster? Cluster availability follows the school permit, but a school is not obliged to offer every elective inside an approved cluster. Naming the cluster tells you almost nothing about the actual subject list.
A third question is worth asking if a specific Grade 12 sequence matters: which Grade 11 electives are needed to keep it open, given the prerequisites.
The Official Old-to-New Mapping
Annex B1 of DO 017 gives schools a translation table so an existing permit can be read against the new structure. ABM maps to Business and Entrepreneurship. HUMSS maps to Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. STEM maps to the STEM cluster. GAS maps to Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities plus Business and Entrepreneurship, plus any cluster the school already implemented.
Treat it as what it is: a planning tool for schools working out what they may offer, not a claim that a strand and its successor cluster contain the same subjects. The clearest reading of an old strand guide today is the cluster it maps to, with the subject list checked separately.
Disclaimer: curriculum structure, elective offerings and prerequisites are set by DepEd issuances and vary by school permit and grade level. Confirm with the school which structure a specific grade level is on before deciding.
Ready to find the right school? Browse schools or compare Senior High School programmes, tracks and tuition across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.
Sources
- DepEd — DO 21, s. 2019, Policy Guidelines on the K to 12 Basic Education Program (official PDF, Annex 2 Secondary Education)
- DepEd — DO 017, s. 2026, Strengthened Senior High School Curriculum (official)
- DepEd — DM 012, s. 2026, Full Implementation of the Strengthened Senior High School Curriculum in School Year 2026-2027 (official)
- DepEd — Strengthened SHS Program (official hub)
- LawPhil — Republic Act No. 10533, Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013
- SchoolFinderPH — Track vs Strand: The Difference
- SchoolFinderPH — The Academic Track in Senior High School
