Only incoming Grade 12 students who previously took the revised Grade 11 subjects during the initial rollout in SY 2025-2026 will be covered by the revised curriculum.
Despite mounting and persistent concerns from stakeholders, the Department of Education (DepEd) will proceed with the pilot implementation of the strengthened senior high school curriculum for Grade 12 in school year 2026-2027, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said.
In DepEd Memorandum 036, s.2026, Angara directed officials to ensure that only incoming Grade 12 students who previously took the revised Grade 11 subjects during the initial rollout in SY 2025-2026 will be covered by the revised curriculum.
Under the revised curriculum, core subjects will no longer be offered in Grade 12 since subjects such as Effective Communication/Mabisang Komunikasyon, General Mathematics, General Science, Life and Career Skills and Pag-aaral ng Kasaysayan at Lipunang Pilipino were already completed in Grade 11.
DepEd added that work immersion, which will range from 320 to 640 hours, remains mandatory for TechPro learners “to ensure alignment with industry demands.”
On the other hand, for Academic Track learners, work immersion is optional but recommended for those seeking immediate post-secondary employment. “Academic Track learners intending to pursue higher education are instead recommended to take Field Exposure,” DepEd said.
The strengthened SHS curriculum was initially launched in 887 schools nationwide in SY 2025-2026.
Below grade-level literacy
The continued rollout of the revised SHS curriculum comes as the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) reported that nearly half of Filipino learners still failed to meet grade-level expectations in reading proficiency by the end of SY 2025-2026.
Based on DepEd’s nationwide literacy assessments, EDCOM 2 said an average of 40 percent of learners from Grades 1 to 10 were classified as struggling readers at the beginning of the school year.
While the number of learners considered grade-level ready or independent readers improved from 19 percent in June 2025 to 48 percent in March 2026, around one in two learners still remained below grade-level proficiency by the end of the school year.
The commission also flagged alarming literacy gaps in senior high school, noting that in DepEd’s pilot Senior High School Literacy and Numeracy Assessment, 87 percent of Grade 11 students were not independent readers.
While improvements were observed in the elementary level, gains tapered off in later grades, particularly from Grades 7 to 10, where many learners were still unable to become independent readers as academic demands became more advanced.
“We commend DepEd for undertaking a comprehensive literacy assessment, even going the extra mile to examine how our students are doing in senior high school. This baseline data provides a clear starting point on the refinement of interventions as DepEd conducts the ARAL (Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning) Summer Program and prepares for the second year of the full rollout of ARAL interventions,” EDCOM 2 executive director Karol Mark Yee said.
He added that while progress has been made under the ARAL Program, the government must now focus on strengthening interventions for high school learners.
“Moving forward, our task now is to design specialized supports to our students in high school, and to better differentiate interventions to help our students actually reach grade level readiness,” Yee said.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers, however, said the literacy crisis reflected deeper structural problems in the education sector.