TL;DR: The standing policy on graduation programmes in Philippine basic education is DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2023, on the conduct of the K to 12 End-of-School-Year Rites. It fixes a short list of things and leaves the rest to the school. What it fixes: Kindergarten and Grade 10 move up, Grade 6 and Grade 12 graduate, each with a named proof of completion; the rites must be simple, without excessive spending, extravagant attire or an extraordinary venue; no DepEd personnel may collect any contribution or graduation fee, with costs charged to school MOOE; casual or formal wear or the school uniform is the recommended attire, with toga or sablay allowed as an additional garb; and field trips, film showings and the JS Promenade may not be made graduation requirements. The annual theme is published in a separate DepEd Memorandum each year, and the awards portion changed this school year under DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026.
"Graduation program" means two different things depending on who is asking. To a parent it is the ceremony. To the teacher assigned to organise it, it is the printed document handed out at the door. This guide covers the first, because that is what the rules govern, and it explains where the printed document fits.
Almost everything circulating online about Philippine graduation programmes is a template from one school, and much of it is now out of date on the part that matters most, the awards. Here is what an actual issuance requires.
Which Ceremonies DepEd Recognises
DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2023 is titled an order updating the multi-year implementing guidelines on the conduct of the K to 12 Basic Education Program End-of-School-Year (EOSY) Rites. It applies to learners who fulfilled the curriculum requirements at the end of the school year, and it sets out four rites with four different names for the document handed over.
| Grade level completed | Type of rite | Proof of completion |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | Moving Up | Kindergarten Certificate |
| Grade 6 | Graduation | Elementary Certificate |
| Grade 10 | Moving Up | Junior High School Certificate |
| Grade 12 | Graduation | Senior High School Diploma |
Two things surprise people here. Grade 6 has a graduation, not a moving up rite, even though what the learner receives is a certificate rather than a diploma. And Grade 10 has a moving up rite, because junior high school is not the end of basic education. The Grade 12 row applies to schools with DepEd-approved K to 12 transition plans, schools with a permit to operate Senior High School since 2014, and international schools with a K to 12 programme.
The format of the certificate of completion and the diploma is not left to the school. DO 009 requires it to follow DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2019, the DepEd Service Marks and Visual Identity Manual, Enclosure 1, pages 44 to 46. For public elementary and secondary schools the templates are required. For private schools, TVIs, HEIs, SUCs and LUCs the templates are optional, the school head's signature is required, and the Schools Division Superintendent's signature is not.
What the Order Actually Requires
Beyond the table, DO 009, s. 2023 reiterates a short set of policies. These are the provisions to cite when something in your school's plan looks wrong.
- Simple yet meaningful. The rites mark a milestone, but are to be conducted without excessive spending, extravagant attire, or an extraordinary venue. There is no permitted budget figure, and there is no rule against holding the ceremony in the school's own covered court, which is what this provision is nudging schools toward.
- No non-academic project may be a requirement. Non-academic projects described in DepEd Order No. 66, s. 2017 on off-campus activities, including attendance at field trips, film showings, the JS Promenade and other school events, must not be imposed as requirements for graduation or completion. This is the single most useful sentence in the order for a family being told a learner cannot march.
- No collection. No DepEd personnel may collect any kind of contribution or graduation or moving up fee. For public schools, expenses are charged against the school's Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE). Our explainer on the no collection policy covers the wider rule and what a clearance may legitimately cover.
- Not a political forum. The rites are to be a solemn ceremony befitting the graduating learners and their families and are not to be used as a political forum, in strict compliance with DepEd Order No. 48, s. 2018 on electioneering and partisan political activity.
- Attire. Casual or formal wear, or the school uniform, remains the recommended attire. A toga or sablay is allowed as an additional garb, which is permissive rather than mandatory. A school that requires a purchased toga is not implementing this provision.
- Themes are annual. The order states that subsequent annual themes for these ceremonies shall be published in a DepEd Memorandum. There is no standing theme.
Disclaimer: this is an explainer, not clearance for any particular arrangement. Schools division offices issue their own supplementary guidance on ceremonies and it differs between divisions. Where a division memorandum and general practice conflict, follow the division, and confirm the current annual memorandum with your school head.
The Awards Portion Changed This School Year
This is the part of a graduation programme most likely to be wrong if it was copied from anywhere.
DO 009, s. 2023 points to DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016 for awards, because it predates the change. DO 36 has since been repealed. DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026, effective from school year 2026-2027, replaced it, and the three honours tiers no longer exist in public schools. In their place there is a single Academic Excellence Award, for learners with a general average of 90 or higher, no final grade below 80 in any learning area, and no derogatory record or disciplinary case within the school year. The order directs that awardees be listed alphabetically to promote fairness and minimise competition.
For the programme document, that has three consequences:
- There is no ascending sequence of tiers to build the awards segment around.
- Names are printed and read alphabetically, not by rank.
- Class rank is not announced. Under the same order a school may issue a certification of actual academic rank only on formal written request.
Our guide to the ranking of honours under K to 12 works through the transition and the awards that still turn on being first in a batch.
The Printed Programme, and What It Is Not
No issuance prescribes the contents of the printed programme handed to families. What it usually carries is the running order, the names of the people in each item, and the list of completers and awardees. It is worth keeping three documents apart, because they are produced by different people and locked at different times:
| Document | What it is | Who writes it |
|---|---|---|
| The printed programme | Items, names, awardee list | The programme committee, from the approved final list |
| The emcee script | The words actually spoken | The host or the committee |
| The running order or programme flow | Item sequence and timings | The committee, within the fixed elements |
For the words themselves, and for the sequence, including where the national anthem and the invocation sit, our graduation script guide separates the handful of lines that are fixed by issuance from everything else.
One timing point that decides when the programme can go to print: the School Awards Committee deliberates on awards and recognitions ahead of the rites, and the School Head approves the final list on the committee's recommendation. Printing before that list is approved is how the wrong name ends up in a thousand copies.
Eligibility to Take Part
DO 009, s. 2023 applies to learners who have fulfilled the curriculum requirements. What counts as fulfilling them is set by the grading and promotion policy, which also changed for school year 2026-2027 under DO 015, s. 2026; our guide to the current DepEd grading system covers what promotion now requires. Separately, schools operate a clearance process for accountabilities such as unreturned books and borrowed equipment, and our guide on graduation requirements and clearance covers what a clearance may and may not be used to withhold.
The line between the two is where most disputes sit. An academic requirement not met is a promotion question. An unpaid voluntary contribution is not a graduation requirement at all.
Where Private Schools Differ
DO 009, s. 2023 states that private schools, HEIs, TVIs, SUCs and LUCs offering basic education may opt to adopt its provisions as the basis for their own ceremonies. That word is doing a lot of work.
| Provision | Public schools | Private schools |
|---|---|---|
| The order as a whole | Binding | Optional, by the school's own choice |
| Diploma and certificate templates | Required | Optional; school head's signature required |
| No collection of graduation fees | Binding | Own published schedule of fees applies |
| Awards guidance under DO 015, s. 2026 | Binding from SY 2026-2027 | Encouraged rather than mandated |
| Calendar and rite dates | Set by the DepEd school calendar | The school's own approved calendar |
Timing follows the calendar, and the calendar changed. Under the three-term structure in DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026, the end-of-school-year rites fall inside the end-of-term block of Term 3 rather than in late May or early June. Our DepEd school calendar guide sets out the block dates; the exact rite dates and the theme for any given year come from that year's DepEd Memorandum, so wait for it rather than assuming.
Common Mistakes in Graduation Programmes
- Three honours tiers. Repealed for public schools from SY 2026-2027. Most templates and most articles still describe DO 36, s. 2016 as current.
- Calling the Grade 6 rite a moving up ceremony. DO 009's own table calls it graduation.
- A required toga. Allowed as an additional garb, not required, and a purchase requirement runs against the "without extravagant attire" provision.
- A field trip or JS prom treated as a graduation requirement. Expressly barred.
- A solicitation printed in the programme. Barred, along with anything else that collects a contribution.
- Last year's theme on the tarpaulin. Themes are published annually by memorandum.
- Printing before the awards list is approved. The approved final list is the only safe source.
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Sources
- DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2023 — An Order Updating the Multi-Year Implementing Guidelines on the Conduct of the K to 12 Basic Education Program End-of-School-Year Rites (official PDF)
- DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 — Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program (official PDF)
- DepEd — DO 009, s. 2026: Guidelines on the Implementation of the Three-Term School Calendar in Basic Education
- TeacherPH — DepEd Issues Updated Guidelines for K to 12 End-of-School-Year Rites (grade level and proof of completion table)
- SchoolFinderPH — Writing a Graduation Programme Script
- SchoolFinderPH — Ranking of Honors Under K to 12
