Marcos approves shift to trimestral school calendar for AY 2026-2027
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the shift from a quarterly grading period to a three-term academic calendar for public schools beginning academic year 2026–2027.
The directive issued during the Economic and Development Council's meeting on March 19 at Malacañang underscores the administration's goal of continuous learning and strengthening learning performance.
Currently, public education institutions carry out four grading periods, or quarters. With the approved shift, the school year will now be spread out across three terms.
The move aims to address frequent learning periods disrupted by class suspensions due to natural calamities and holidays.
According to the directive, the proposed three-term academic calendar is designed to give students more time to study each topic, help teachers streamline the flow of lessons, create structured recovery periods, and ease the pacing of teaching.
Under this shift, teachers can have up to 32 hours of professional development activities, with more time for "wellness intervals," which can help ease persistent workload stress.
The first term, which will run from June to September, carries 54 instructional days and 10 days of assessment. In the second term, from September to December, students will receive 55 instructional days and a 10-day assessment period. The third term, from January to March, will have 61 instructional days with a shorter assessment period of six days. Each term will have structured and continuous lessons, which will be boosted by brief non-academic programs.
Marcos approved the new school year calendar after stressing the importance of a continuous 180-day interaction period between teachers and students despite potential disruptions.
“Itinutulak natin ito upang magkaroon ng mas mahahabang, tuloy-tuloy na panahon ng pagkatuto, mas maayos na pacing ng mga aralin, at mas mababang administrative burden para sa ating mga guro. Sa ganitong paraan, napapangalagaan natin ang kalidad ng edukasyon,” said Education secretary Sonny Angara in a previous statement.
Although the proposal has not been put through pilot testing, the Department of Education has indicated that consultations regarding the trimestral shift have been done with different educational institutions.
Along with his approval of the directive, Marcos instructed DepEd to make sure the new structure will put in place measures to support struggling learners, will be consistent with the semestral system currently being used in Senior High School, and will be ready for full implementation nationwide.
The educational crisis in the country has been persistent, with data from the Second Congressional Commission on Education showing a serious decline in Filipino student proficiency.
According to the Philippine News Agency, in the 2022 results of the Programme for International Student Assessment, which evaluated students from 81 countries, learners in the Philippines ranked sixth to the last in reading and math, and third to the last in science.
