Camille Naredo

Elementary students arrive for the first day of classes at President Corazon C. Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City on June 16, 2025. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File

Elementary students arrive for the first day of classes at President Corazon C. Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City on June 16, 2025.
President Corazon C. Aquino Elementary School, one of Quezon City’s largest learning institutions, reported at least 8,500 enrollees for School Year 2025–2026.

 Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Back to School 2025

Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177123017833420250616-school-opening-corazon-aquino-qc-MD-12.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Elementary students arrive for the first day of classes at President Corazon C. Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City on June 16, 2025. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File" width="960"/>Elementary students arrive for the first day of classes at President Corazon C. Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City on June 16, 2025. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File</div>MANILA — Proposals to shift the Philippines&#x27; basic education calendar to a trimestral system needs to be further studied, Malacañang said on Monday.The Palace statement comes days after the DepEd announced that it is looking to change the academic calendar of Kinder to Grade 12 students to a trimester to provide a &quot;holistic approach&quot; to education and to help balance time management for learners.&quot;Ito ay proposal pa lamang po at inilalahad nila ang maaaring advantage ng pagkakaroon ng trimester ng DepEd, na isinusulong ng DepEd,&quot; Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a Palace briefing.<div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/11/-how-have-we-allowed-this-marcos-to-dedicate-remainder-of-term-to-fixing-education-1201">READ: Marcos to dedicate remainder of term to fixing education</a></div>&quot;Nandoon pa lang po sa stage ng pagpo-propose so mas mainam na mas maagarang pang pag-aaral ang gawin kung dapat itong i-implement,&quot; she said.&quot;Mas maganda naman po talaga na pinag-uusapan lahat ito ng mga stakeholders, ng mga interested parties, lahat po, para po ma-reach iyong pinakamagandang programa para sa ating mga kabataan,&quot; she added.The proposal to shift the school calendar is the latest attempt to improve the Philippines&#x27; education sector after several studies showed that Filipino students lagged behind its regional and global counterparts in terms of academic performance.A 2024 study from the Philippine Statistics Authority also showed that more than 700,000 Filipinos aged 5 and above could neither read nor write, adding that only 70.8 percent of Filipinos are functionally literate.Aside from the pitch to shift to a trimestral school year, the education sector has also looked at the possibility of scrapping the K-12 system and implementing 3-shifts of classes a day in public schools to accommodate the deluge of students amid classroom shortage woes.

Proposals to shift the Philippines' basic education calendar to a trimestral system needs to be further studied, Malacañang said on Monday.

Proposals to shift the Philippines' basic education calendar to a trimestral system needs to be further studied, Malacañang said on Monday.

Proposals for PH to shift to trimestral school year needs to be further studied: Palace

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Proposals for PH to shift to trimestral school year needs to be further studied: Palace

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published February 16, 2026 04:31 PM PHT

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Updated February 17, 2026 08:47 AM PHT

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