TL;DR: The 13-year K-12 structure set by RA 10533 is unchanged: one year of Kindergarten, six of elementary, four of junior high and two of senior high. What has changed, three times since 2024, is what happens inside it. RA 12027 discontinued the mother tongue as the medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3, implemented by DO 020, s. 2025 from SY 2025-2026. DO 017, s. 2026 replaced the four senior high tracks and named strands with two tracks and elective clusters, for incoming Grade 11 from SY 2026-2027. DO 015, s. 2026 replaced the grading and awards rules, and with them the With Honors ladder. Most material online still describes the pre-2024 version of all three.
Parents researching K-12 today face a specific problem: almost every explainer in circulation was written before 2024 and describes a system that has since been amended by statute and by three DepEd orders. This guide gives the structure, then the three changes, then a plain answer to which rules apply to which grade level right now.
The Structure, Which Has Not Changed
Republic Act No. 10533, the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, sets thirteen years of basic education.
| Stage | Grade levels | Typical entry age |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | K | 5 by the cutoff date |
| Elementary | Grades 1 to 6 | 6 by the cutoff date |
| Junior high school | Grades 7 to 10 | 12 |
| Senior high school | Grades 11 to 12 | 16 |
Kindergarten became compulsory under Republic Act No. 10157, the Kindergarten Education Act of 2012, and is a prerequisite for Grade 1. The current age cutoff requires a child to turn five on or before 31 October of the school year, per DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2025, which extended it from the previous 31 August. Children turning five between 1 November and 31 December may still qualify through a completed one-year ECCD programme or a readiness checklist. Our kindergarten enrolment guide and kindergarten age requirements guide cover the detail.
Change One: The Language Rule Was Repealed by Statute
This is the change most guides still get wrong, and it was made by Congress rather than by DepEd.
Republic Act No. 12027, which lapsed into law on 10 October 2024 without the President's signature, amended Sections 4 and 5 of RA 10533 to discontinue the use of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3, providing for optional implementation in monolingual classes, meaning a group of learners who speak the same mother tongue and are in the same grade level.
DepEd Order No. 020, s. 2025 implemented it. From school year 2025-2026 the primary media of instruction for Kindergarten to Grade 3 are Filipino and English, with Filipino Sign Language for deaf learners under RA 11106. Three points are routinely missed:
- The mother tongue has not left the classroom. Regional and local languages may continue as auxiliary media, and the order defines and requires translanguaging, with greater use of the learner's first language in Kindergarten and Grade 1 shifting toward full academic use of Filipino and English by Grade 4.
- Optional use has conditions. A monolingual class may retain the mother tongue as the medium only where readiness criteria are met, including an orthography and vocabulary approved by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino.
- Indigenous Peoples Education is treated separately, with its own continuation conditions.
If a school prospectus or an online explainer still describes MTB-MLE as the required approach in the early grades, it is describing the law before October 2024.
Change Two: Senior High Was Restructured
DepEd Order No. 017, s. 2026, the Strengthened Senior High School Curriculum, signed 4 June 2026, replaces the structure most people still describe.
| Element | 2016 curriculum | Strengthened SHS Curriculum |
|---|---|---|
| Tracks | Academic, TVL, Sports, Arts and Design | Academic and Technical-Professional |
| Sub-structure | Named strands such as STEM, ABM, HUMSS, GAS | Clusters of electives, five Academic and ten Tech-Pro |
| Core subjects | Spread across Grades 11 and 12 | Five core subjects, Grade 11 only, 160 hours each |
| Tech-Pro electives | Varied by qualification | Standardised at 320 hours, aligned to TESDA Training Regulations |
The five core subjects are Effective Communication and Mabisang Komunikasyon, General Mathematics, General Science, Life and Career Skills, and Pag-aaral ng Kasaysayan at Lipunang Pilipino. Each is aligned to a general education subject under CHED Memorandum Order No. 020, s. 2013, the mechanism intended to cut repetition between senior high and first-year college.
The transition matters as much as the change. Full implementation applies to incoming Grade 11 from SY 2026-2027, while Grade 12 learners that year continue under the curriculum they began in Grade 11. Both structures are therefore running simultaneously. Our Strengthened SHS curriculum guide sets out which cohort sits where.
Change Three: Grading and Awards Were Replaced
DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 repeals both DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015 on classroom assessment and DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016 on awards, by name, effective SY 2026-2027 in public elementary and secondary schools.
What changed in grading. The old Written Work, Performance Tasks and Quarterly Assessment components are replaced by Written or Oral Works, Product or Performance Tasks and Examinations. Transmutation is phased out in two steps: for SY 2026-2027 an adjusted table applies in which a raw grade of 70 corresponds to a transmuted passing 75, a ten-point tightening from DO 8's 60; from SY 2027-2028 a zero-based system applies for Key Stages 2 to 4, with no transmutation and 75 as the minimum passing grade. One carve-out survives: DO 015 keeps DO 8's weights for Grade 12 in SY 2026-2027, because that cohort has not moved to the Strengthened SHS Curriculum.
What changed in awards. This is the change families notice most. The three-band ladder of With Honors, With High Honors and With Highest Honors 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 no longer receive academic awards at all.
See our guides to DO 8, s. 2015 and what replaced it, DO 36, s. 2016 and the awards change and DepEd's new grading system.
Disclaimer: implementation of every order above is phased by grade level and key stage, and coverage clauses differ between public and private schools. Confirm with your child's school which rules apply to their specific grade this school year rather than assuming the newest order covers everyone at once.
The K-10 Curriculum: MATATAG
Alongside those three, DepEd Order No. 010, s. 2024 rebuilt the K-10 curriculum as MATATAG, phased in by grade level.
| School year | Grade levels moving to MATATAG |
|---|---|
| SY 2024-2025 | Kindergarten, Grades 1, 4 and 7 |
| SY 2025-2026 | Grades 2, 3, 5 and 8 |
| SY 2026-2027 | Grades 6, 9 and 10 |
| SY 2027-2028 | Full implementation across K-10 |
MATATAG does not touch Grades 11 and 12, which is why the senior high reform exists separately. Our MATATAG curriculum guide covers the subject-by-subject changes, and our K to 12 curriculum guide covers the structure in more depth.
Which Rules Apply to My Child This Year?
In SY 2026-2027 a single school can be operating several sets of rules at once. The honest answer is that you have to ask, and the useful thing is knowing what to ask.
- Kindergarten to Grade 3. Filipino and English as primary media of instruction under DO 020, s. 2025. Descriptive rather than numerical grading in the earliest grades under DO 015, s. 2026, and no academic awards to Grade 3.
- Grades 4 to 10. MATATAG by phase, per the table above. DO 015 grading weights with the adjusted transmutation table.
- Grade 11. Strengthened SHS Curriculum, two tracks and elective clusters.
- Grade 12. The 2016 curriculum they began under, and DO 8, s. 2015 weights with the adjusted transmutation table.
Three questions to put to the class adviser or registrar, in writing:
- Which curriculum is my child's grade level on this year, and which order sets it?
- Which grading weight table applies to their subjects, and is there a division memorandum implementing it?
- What awards, if any, apply at their grade level under DO 015, s. 2026?
What Parents Can Actually Do
- Stop planning around the honours ladder. If your child is working toward "With Highest Honors", that award no longer exists at DepEd level. The target now is the Academic Excellence Award threshold.
- Ask about elective clusters early if senior high is approaching. Cluster availability varies by school, and it is not identical to the old strand offering. Ask which clusters a prospective school actually runs.
- Support foundational literacy and numeracy in the early grades. The language of instruction changed; the importance of reading did not.
- Treat undated online guidance as suspect. The reliable test is whether an explainer names the issuance. One that says "DepEd requires" without naming an order cannot be checked or dated.
- Compare schools on what they offer, not on category. Our guide on how to use SchoolFinderPH covers building a shortlist you can actually verify.
Disclaimer: DepEd issues clarificatory memoranda that adjust implementation detail after an order is signed. Verify current requirements with your school and against the issuance list on deped.gov.ph before making enrolment decisions.
Sources
- Republic Act No. 10533 — Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 (LawPhil)
- Republic Act No. 12027 — discontinuing the mother tongue as medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3 (LawPhil)
- Republic Act No. 10157 — Kindergarten Education Act of 2012 (LawPhil)
- DepEd — DO 017, s. 2026, Strengthened Senior High School Curriculum (official)
- DepEd — DO 015, s. 2026, Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition (official)
- DepEd — DM 059, s. 2025, Dissemination of the IRR of RA 12027 (official)
- DepEd — Revised K to 10 Curriculum (official)
- DepEd — Strengthened SHS Program (official hub)
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