Manila, Philippines — Circulating online during the past few days is a Facebook post allegedly an announcement from the Department of Education, claiming that there will be a Grade 13 for Senior High School programs in the upcoming academic year.
On Sunday, DepEd issued an advisory debunking the information and tagging it as fake news.
Presently, the basic education system in the Philippines only consists of Grade 11 and Grade 12 in Senior High School, which was first implemented in School year 2012-2013 under the then newly introduced K-12 curriculum.
Last month, another Facebook post was shared online claiming that there will be no more senior high school in SY 2025 – 2026, but there were no official reports from DepEd and from the Commission on Higher Education regarding this matter.
This reflects that the SHS program is not abolished and that there will be only changes and revisions in the implementation of the program, including the reduction of core subjects to 5 to 7 important subjects, as noted by DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara.
Following the circulation of these materials online, the education department reminded the public to be critical with the information shared online.
They also encouraged the public to visit the agency’s official social media accounts to verify any information regarding the country’s education system.
Starting this school year, the academic year for public schools returns to June, starting June 16 and will end by March 31, 2026.