TL;DR: DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016, "Policy Guidelines on Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program," is repealed. Paragraph 6 of DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 repeals it by name, effective SY 2026-2027. The most consequential change is the one least reported: the three-band honours ladder DO 36 created, With Honors (90-94), With High Honors (95-97), With Highest Honors (98-100), does not appear in the replacement order. In its place there is a single Academic Excellence Award for a general average of at least 90 with no final grade below 80, and DO 015 directs that awardees be listed alphabetically. Kindergarten to Grade 3 stop receiving academic awards entirely. Much of DO 36's award machinery does survive, because Annex H of the new order says it adopts from DO 36's provisions.
Anyone searching "DepEd Order 36, s. 2016" is usually after one of two things: the exact honours cut-offs, or the criteria for a specific award their child is up for. Both answers changed in June 2026, and almost every page ranking for that order number still gives the old ones. This guide sets out what DO 36 required, what DO 015, s. 2026 replaced it with award by award, and which parts carried over intact. For the wider assessment reform this sits inside, see our guide to DepEd's new grading system; for the assessment order repealed alongside it, see DO 8, s. 2015 and what replaced it.
Is DO 36, s. 2016 Still in Force?
No. The repeal is by name, not by implication. Paragraph 6 of DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026, "Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program," repeals DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015 and DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016, and adds that all other issuances inconsistent with it are repealed, rescinded or modified accordingly.
DO 015 was signed on 4 June 2026 and applies from school year 2026-2027 in all public elementary and secondary schools nationwide. That is the school year now under way, which is why the gap between what is published online and what schools are actually doing is unusually wide this year.
Disclaimer: awards criteria are applied by each school's Awards Committee within DepEd's framework, and divisions issue their own implementing guidance. Confirm the criteria in force at your child's school before treating any threshold here as final.
What Did DO 36, s. 2016 Require?
It grouped recognition into three families, and that structure is worth knowing because the new order keeps most of it.
- Classroom Awards, given within a section by the adviser or subject teachers. These covered Kindergarten performance awards based on curriculum domains, Conduct Awards, a quarterly Academic Excellence Award, and Recognition for Perfect Attendance.
- Grade-level Awards, deliberated by an Awards Committee at the end of the school year. These covered the Academic Excellence Award, the Leadership Award, awards for outstanding performance in specific disciplines, and Senior High School awards for work immersion, research or innovation, and club or organisation achievement.
- Special Recognition, for learners who represented or won in competitions at district, division, regional, national or international level.
Its stated aim was to move away from a Top 10 ranking. The enclosure's rationale says the policy is meant to give all learners equal opportunity to excel against the curriculum standard and to focus on their own performance rather than compete with one another. The 2026 order pushes considerably further in the same direction.
What Were the Old Honors Cut-Offs?
This is the part people actually search for. DO 36 used the same three bands in two places: per quarter, based on the average grade for that quarter, and at the end of the school year, based on the general average.
| Award under DO 36, s. 2016 | General average |
|---|---|
| With Highest Honors / May Pinakamataas na Karangalan | 98-100 |
| With High Honors / May Mataas na Karangalan | 95-97 |
| With Honors / May Karangalan | 90-94 |
At year end, the Academic Excellence Award went to learners in Grades 1 to 12 with a general average of at least 90 and a passing final grade in all learning areas. Note the difference from the current rule: DO 36 required only a passing grade in every subject, so a learner could carry a 76 in one subject and still qualify.
What Does DO 015, s. 2026 Give Instead?
One award, one threshold, and an explicit instruction on how the names are read out.
DO 015 provides that learners in Key Stages 2 to 4 who obtain a general average of 90 or higher, with no final grade below 80 in any learning area, receive the Academic Excellence Award. Awardees must have no derogatory records or disciplinary cases within the school year. And the order directs that awardees be listed alphabetically to promote fairness and minimise competition.
Two substantive differences follow from that.
The subject floor is higher. Under DO 36, a passing 75 in one subject was compatible with honours. Under DO 015, a final grade of 79 in any single learning area disqualifies a learner whose general average is 93.
There are no tiers. The words "With Honors," "With High Honors" and "With Highest Honors" do not appear in DO 015, s. 2026. A learner with a general average of 99 and a learner with a general average of 91 receive the same named award. Published guides, school Facebook posts and reviewer material overwhelmingly still list the three bands, and that is the single most common error you will meet on this topic in the 2026-2027 school year.
There is a release valve for anyone who needs a number. DO 015 provides that schools may issue a certification of actual academic rank upon formal written request, to support college applications or other academic requirements. So rank still exists in the records; it just no longer drives the ceremony. If you are looking at university admission, our guides to Latin honors requirements and honors for transferees cover how tertiary institutions handle this separately.
What Changes for Kindergarten to Grade 3?
Academic awards stop. DO 015 provides that in Key Stage 1 no academic awards are conferred, in line with the descriptive grading system, and that learner progress is communicated through descriptive assessment and narrative feedback, avoiding early competition and labelling.
What replaces them is non-academic. Annex H provides for a Character Traits Award granted at the end of each academic term to Kindergarten to Grade 3 learners, based on the descriptive grading, recognising demonstrated values, positive learning behaviours, participation and growth. To keep it consistent, recognition is limited to five core awards, and at the end of the school year each learner receives a Certificate of Merit reflecting the GMRC competency they most improved in or excelled at. A Perfect Attendance Award continues for Key Stage 1 learners with no absences for the term, verified against School Form 2.
There is a transition wrinkle worth knowing: while Grades 2 and 3 are still on numerical grading during the phase-in, DO 015 allows schools to give Academic Excellence Awards and other applicable grade-level awards to those grades under the new guidelines.
Which DO 36 Awards Survived the Repeal?
Most of the grade-level award families continue, some renamed, and the criteria machinery was deliberately carried over. DO 015 states that Annex H adopts from relevant provisions of DO No. 36, s. 2016 to ensure fair, transparent and consistent implementation, including provisions on the Awards Committee and grievance mechanisms.
| DO 36, s. 2016 | DO 015, s. 2026 |
|---|---|
| Academic Excellence Award, three honours bands | Academic Excellence Award, single threshold, alphabetical listing |
| Leadership Award (Grades 6, 10, 12) | Leadership Excellence Award (Key Stages 2 to 4) |
| Outstanding Performance in Specific Disciplines | Excellence in a Specific Learning Area |
| Award for Work Immersion | Excellence in Work Immersion, Field Exposure, and Arts Apprenticeship |
| Award for Research or Innovation | Excellence in Research; Excellence in Design and Innovation |
| Special Recognition | Special Recognition Awards |
| Character Traits for Kindergarten to Grade 3 | Character Traits Award, capped at five core awards |
The Leadership Award is the clearest case of continuity. DO 36 weighted it 40 per cent motivational skills, 40 per cent planning and organisational skills and 20 per cent contribution to the school or community, with a 90 per cent qualification threshold. DO 015 keeps the same three headings, the same 40 / 40 / 20 split and the same 90 per cent threshold, scored against the school's approved rubric.
The renaming of "Outstanding Performance in Specific Disciplines" to "Excellence in a Specific Learning Area" is not cosmetic. DO 36 named six fixed disciplines. DO 015 ties the award to the highest final grade in a learning area, provided it is not below 90, awarded for each learning area in Key Stages 2 and 3, and for each core subject and each elective cluster in Senior High School. That last clause tracks the elective-cluster structure introduced by the Strengthened SHS Curriculum rather than the old named strands.
Disclaimer: elective-cluster availability differs between schools, so the number of Excellence in a Specific Learning Area awards a Senior High School gives out will differ too. Ask the school which clusters it actually offers.
What Should Parents and Teachers Do This Year?
- Stop quoting the 90-94 / 95-97 / 98-100 bands for public elementary and secondary schools in SY 2026-2027. They are from a repealed order.
- Watch the 80 floor, not just the average. A single final grade of 79 now disqualifies an otherwise-qualifying learner, which was not true before.
- If a university or scholarship asks for rank, request a written certification from the school rather than expecting rank to be announced.
- Ask your school for its Awards Committee criteria in writing early in the year, since DO 015 leaves rubric detail to the school for several awards.
- Check whether your private school has adopted DO 015 at all. It is encouraged, not required, for non-DepEd schools, and a school may have kept its own honours tradition.
Ready to find the right school? Browse schools or compare tuition and reviews across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.
Sources
- DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016 — Policy Guidelines on Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program (official PDF, repealed)
- DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 — Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program (official)
- Award names, thresholds and criteria weights above were read directly from the enclosure of DO 36, s. 2016 and from Section IX and Annex H of the enclosure to DO 015, s. 2026, as published on deped.gov.ph.
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd's New Grading System Under MATATAG
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd Order 8, s. 2015: Repealed, and What Replaced It
- SchoolFinderPH — Strengthened SHS Curriculum
