VICE President and Secretary Sara Duterte yesterday said the revised curriculum for Senior High School (SHS) or grades 11 and 12 will have a pilot run in School Year (SY) 2025-26.
Duterte also announced the gradual return of the old school break starting SY 2024-25.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Chinese Filipino Business Club’s 13th Biennial National Convention where she was the keynote speaker, Duterte said: “Ang target pilot natin for the senior high school curriculum is next year… that’s 2025-2026.”
The DepEd is currently reviewing the SHS curriculum to make graduates more job-ready when they finish high school.
DepEd Undersecretary and spokesperson Michael Poa has earlier said that they are targeting to complete the review by May this year.
The SHS curriculum review is being conducted amid the ongoing pilot implementation of the “Matatag” curriculum in 35 schools in seven regions in the country.
Matatag is a revised basic education curriculum under the K-12 program that covers kindergarten up to Grade 10.
Revisions in the K to 10 program include, among others, the reduction of competencies and greater emphasis on the development of foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills among Kinder to Grade 3 learners.
The Matatag curriculum has five competencies – Language, Reading and Literacy, Mathematics, Makabansa, and GMRC (Good Manners and Right Conduct).
The current curriculum has seven competencies, namely Mother Tongue, Filipino, English, Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan, MAPEH, and Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao.
At the same time, Duterte issued last Monday Department Order No. 003 S. of 2024 adjusting the end date of the current SY 2023 to 2024 to May 31, 2024 from June 14, 2024 in preparation to the gradual shift to the pre-pandemic school calendar.
The current school year started on August 29, 2023.
The DepEd order set the end of school year (EOSY), or graduation or moving-up rites, from May 29 to 31.
Duterte said that “under exceptional circumstances, the schools may conduct the EOSY rites on June 1, 2024, Saturday, only upon consultation with teachers and parents.”
Duterte said the school break for the current SY will be from June 1 to July 26, while the start of academic year 2024 to 2025 will be on July 29 and end on May 16, 2025.
