TL;DR: Philippine end-of-school-year rites are governed by two documents, one permanent and one annual. The permanent one is DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2023. The annual one is a DepEd Memorandum that sets the theme and the dates. The 2026 instance, DepEd Memorandum No. 015, s. 2026, was issued 4 March for rites on 30 or 31 March — under four weeks of notice, because the date follows from the school calendar rather than being chosen freely. It also carried three things the standing order does not: a heat and venue advisory, a ban on end-of-school-year financial clearances in public schools, and a five calendar day deadline for the Awards Committee to deliberate before the rites. One trap: DM 015, s. 2026 is not DO 015, s. 2026.
This guide is about the annual machinery — where the theme comes from, how the date is derived, what the yearly memorandum adds on top of the standing rules, and why the standing order now cites an issuance that has been repealed. For the ceremony rules themselves, attire, the printed programme and eligibility, see our graduation programme guide. For the awards and who qualifies for what, see our recognition day guide. This page does not repeat either.
Why There Are Two Documents
DepEd could publish one order a year covering everything. It does not, and the split is deliberate.
The standing order carries the rules that should not change annually: what the rites are, which levels are covered, what schools may not do. That is 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, itself an amendment and reissuance of DepEd Order No. 2, s. 2020.
The annual memorandum carries what genuinely changes: the theme and the dates. DO 009, s. 2023 says so explicitly, providing that subsequent annual themes for these ceremonies shall be published in a DepEd Memorandum.
The practical consequence for anyone citing the rules: a question about whether something is allowed is answered by the order, and a question about when or under what banner is answered by the memorandum. Quoting the memorandum from three years ago to settle a rules argument is a category error, and quoting the standing order to settle a date is equally useless.
The Same-Number Trap
In 2026 the two most-cited issuances on this topic carry the same number.
| DM 015, s. 2026 | DO 015, s. 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | DepEd Memorandum | DepEd Order |
| Issued | 4 March 2026 | 4 June 2026 |
| Subject | Conduct of the EOSY Rites for SY 2025-2026 | Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition |
| Lifespan | One school year | Standing, from SY 2026-2027 |
They are not versions of each other, and they do not amend each other. A citation reading "015, s. 2026" without the series type is ambiguous in the one area where the two overlap, which is awards at a ceremony. Our explainer on reading DepEd issuances covers why the series type is part of the citation rather than a formality.
What the 2026 Memorandum Actually Contained
Reading a real memorandum is the fastest way to understand what one does. DepEd Memorandum No. 015, s. 2026 ran to three pages and did five things.
It named who is covered. Kindergarten, Grade 6, Grade 10 and Grade 12 learners in public schools, and Alternative Learning System learners who satisfactorily meet the curriculum requirements at the end of the school year. The ALS inclusion is stated in the first paragraph and is routinely dropped from summaries. Our Alternative Learning System guide covers how ALS completion works.
It derived the dates. The memorandum cited the then-current calendar order, noted that school year 2025-2026 would end 31 March 2026, and set the rites for either 30 or 31 March 2026. The date was not selected; it was computed from the end of the school year, and the school picks between the two days.
It set the theme. Filipino Graduates: Prepared to Lead with Competence and Character, in Filipino Pilipinong Nagsipagtapos: Handang Mamuno nang May Kakayahan at Mabuting Pagkatao. The memorandum devoted a full paragraph to explaining it, framing graduates as prepared for higher education, employment, entrepreneurship and middle-level skills development, and as morally upright, compassionate and service-oriented.
It reiterated standing rules. Simple yet meaningful ceremonies without excessive spending, extravagant attire or extraordinary venues; non-academic projects under DepEd Order No. 66, s. 2017 such as field trips, film showings and the Junior-Senior Promenade not to be imposed as graduation or completion requirements; expenses charged to school MOOE with no individual allowed to collect any kind of contribution or fee from learners and teachers; and the certificate and diploma formats fixed by DepEd Order No. 031, s. 2019.
It added three operational rules that the standing order does not carry:
- the School Awards Committee deliberates at least five calendar days before the rites
- public schools are strictly prohibited from requiring learners to accomplish end-of-school-year financial clearances
- the last class day of the school year must be clearly indicated on all relevant school forms and communicated in good time to learners, parents or legal guardians and school personnel
Our guide to graduation requirements and clearance covers what a school may legitimately withhold and what it may not.
The Heat Advisory Is Newer Than the Rest
One provision in the 2026 memorandum has no equivalent in the older material and is worth stating on its own: to ensure the safety and protection of learners, teachers and attendees, schools are advised to conduct the rites in indoor venues with proper ventilation or in covered courts to avoid exposure to extreme heat, and to avoid scheduling them during the hottest hours of the day.
This matters more than it reads, because it interacts with the calendar. When the school year ended in June, rites fell in the rainy season. Ending the year in late March or early April puts a ceremony full of children in formal clothing squarely in the hottest part of the Philippine year. The venue rule and the standing rule against extraordinary venues now push in the same direction: hold it in the school covered court, in the morning.
How the Date Is Derived, and Why Next Year Is Unknowable
The rites do not have a date of their own. They have a position — at the end of the school year — and the calendar supplies the date.
That calendar changed. DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026, issued 16 April 2026, adopted the three-term school calendar and repealed DepEd Order No. 012, s. 2025 in its entirety, which was the multi-year school calendar guidelines the 2026 rites memorandum had relied on. Under the new order, the current school year ends 8 April 2027, and for succeeding school years DepEd issues a memorandum before the start of every school year specifying the detailed schedule of school activities. Our school calendar guide covers the term structure.
So the honest position on future rite dates is:
- The rites will sit at the end of the school year, inside the Term 3 end-of-term block.
- The specific days come from the annual memorandum.
- Until that memorandum exists, there is no date, only an expectation.
Any page publishing firm rite dates for a school year whose memorandum has not been issued is telling you what it thinks will happen. That is a forecast, and forecasts should be labelled.
Reading a Standing Order Whose Cross-References Have Died
This is the subtlest problem in the area, and it will trip up anyone citing the standing order this school year.
DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2023 reiterates a list of policies by reference, and one of the items on that list is DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016 on awards and recognition. DepEd Memorandum No. 015, s. 2026 repeated the same reference, correctly, because DO 36 still governed school year 2025-2026.
DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 then repealed DO 36, s. 2016, with its guidelines applying from school year 2026-2027.
The standing order was not amended when that happened. It still points at DO 36. That is normal: a repealing order does not go back and edit the text of every issuance that once cited the repealed one. The rule for readers is that a cross-reference inherits the fate of the document it points to. When DO 009, s. 2023 says awards follow DO 36, read it as saying awards follow whatever the current awards policy is, which is now DO 015, s. 2026. Our recognition day guide sets out what that policy contains.
The failure mode to avoid is the opposite inference: concluding that because a standing order still names DO 36, DO 36 must still be alive. It is not.
A Short Checklist for Anyone Organising Them
- Get this year's memorandum, not last year's. The theme and dates are in it and nowhere else.
- Note the last class day and make sure it is on the school forms that require it.
- Work backwards five calendar days from the rite date for the Awards Committee deliberation, and do not print the programme before the final list is approved.
- Book a covered or ventilated venue and a morning slot.
- Charge everything to MOOE, and collect nothing from anyone, learners or teachers.
- Do not issue a financial clearance requirement.
Disclaimer: this is an explainer, not an announcement channel. SchoolFinderPH does not organise ceremonies, publish awardee lists or announce rite dates or themes. Those come from your school, your schools division office and the official issuances linked below.
Sources
- DepEd — DM 015, s. 2026, Conduct of the K to 12 Basic Education Program End-of-School-Year Rites for the School Year 2025-2026 (official issuance page)
- DepEd — DO 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 — DO 009, s. 2026, Guidelines on the Implementation of the Three-Term School Calendar in Basic Education (official issuance page)
- DepEd — DO 015, s. 2026, Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program (official issuance page)
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