TL;DR: A Teachers' Day letter is given on or around 5 October, National Teachers' Day under Republic Act No. 10743 and World Teachers' Day internationally, inside National Teachers' Month (5 September to 5 October) under Proclamation No. 242, s. 2011. Keep it to three to five short paragraphs and build it in five parts: greeting, why you are writing, one specific moment, what changed because of it, and a closing wish. The specific moment is what makes it worth keeping. On what goes with the letter: organised class collections for gifts are not permitted under the DepEd no-collection policy and the PTA guidelines, and the Code of Ethics limits what a teacher may accept — which is exactly why a letter is the safe option.
Every year around the first week of October, Filipino students are asked to write a letter to a teacher, and every year most of those letters say the same three things: thank you for your patience, thank you for your sacrifices, you are my second parent. Teachers keep almost none of them, for a reason that has nothing to do with sincerity: a letter that could have been written to any teacher does not tell them anything.
This guide covers when the letter is given and why, a five-part structure that fixes the generic-letter problem, a worked example you can pattern-match, and the rules governing whether anything can accompany it. For the dates themselves and how the three observances fit together, see our guide to Teachers' Day in the Philippines.
When Is the Letter Given?
5 October. Republic Act No. 10743, approved 29 January 2016, declares the fifth day of October of every year as National Teachers' Day, with DepEd as lead agency for the annual programme of activities. The same date is World Teachers' Day, observed internationally since 1994 to mark the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers.
The wider window is National Teachers' Month, 5 September to 5 October, declared by Presidential Proclamation No. 242, s. 2011. A letter given any time in that month is on schedule.
Two practical notes. First, 5 October is a working day nationally — it is not in the annual holiday proclamation — so the school programme normally runs during class hours. Second, when 5 October falls on a weekend or inside an assessment block under the three-term school calendar, schools commonly move the programme to a nearby school day. Follow your school's announcement, not the calendar date.
The Five-Part Structure
| Part | What goes in it | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Greeting | The teacher's correct name and title, spelled correctly | One line |
| 2. Why you are writing | State it plainly, in one sentence, no preamble | 1 sentence |
| 3. One specific moment | A single thing that happened, with enough detail that only you could have written it | 2–4 sentences |
| 4. What changed | What you do, understand, or believe differently because of it | 2–3 sentences |
| 5. Closing wish | Short, warm, and free of any request | 1–2 sentences |
Part 3 is the whole letter. If you cannot name one specific thing — a question the teacher answered after class, an explanation that finally landed, a time they noticed something was wrong, a comment on a paper you still remember — the letter will read like every other letter, however warmly it is written.
Two rules of thumb that help:
- Name the subject, the moment and the effect. "Salamat po sa inyong pasensya" is a category. "The day you stayed after class to redo the factoring drill with me" is a moment.
- Do not stack adjectives. One concrete sentence about what happened outperforms three sentences of praise. This is the same principle that makes a good recommendation letter work.
A Worked Example
The letter below is an illustrative example written for this guide. The teacher, the student and the incident are invented to show the structure; do not copy it as-is, because a borrowed specific detail defeats the entire point. Use it to see where each of the five parts sits.
Dear Ma'am Ronquillo,
I wanted to write to you for Teachers' Day because I do not think I ever said this out loud.
In the second term last year I failed the first long test in General Mathematics, and I stopped raising my hand for about three weeks. You did not call me out for it. You just started giving me the board work with the smaller numbers first, and after the third or fourth time I realised I could actually finish those. When I got the piecewise functions problem right, you said "ayan, ganyan lang pala" and moved on, and I remember being relieved you did not make it a big deal.
I still find maths hard. What changed is that I no longer assume I will fail it. I take the STEM subjects now without dreading them, and when I get stuck I ask, which I never used to do.
Thank you po. I hope this school year is a lighter one for you.
Respectfully yours, Marielle
Notice what is not in it: no mention of grades this term, no upcoming exam, no request of any kind. That is deliberate, and the next section explains why.
What Can Go With the Letter?
This is where a well-meant gesture can create a real problem for the teacher, so it is worth being precise about the rules.
Organised collections are not allowed. In public schools, the no-collection policy under DepEd Order No. 19, s. 2008 makes contributions voluntary and restricts collections in the lower grades. DepEd Order No. 013, s. 2022 requires that voluntary school contributions be collected only through the PTA, that they be strictly voluntary, and that they support activities in the School Improvement Plan; it also expressly prohibits "using the name of the school for unauthorized solicitation of financial or other resources." A class-wide "abuloy" for a Teachers' Day gift, organised in a homeroom group chat, sits outside all of that. Our guides to the no-collection policy and to PTA rules, fees and limits cover the mechanics.
What the teacher may accept is also limited. The Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers, Article VIII, Section 4, bars a teacher from accepting favours or gifts from learners, their parents "or others in their behalf in exchange for requested concessions, especially if underserved." Section 5 separately bars accepting remuneration from tutorials beyond what is authorised. Public school teachers are additionally covered by Republic Act No. 6713, Section 7(d), which prohibits soliciting or accepting "any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of monetary value" in connection with official duties. RA 6713's definition of a gift excludes "an unsolicited gift of nominal or insignificant value not given in anticipation of, or in exchange for, a favor" — which is the narrow space a card or a small token occupies. The specific sections are set out in our Code of Ethics explainer.
The practical version of all that:
| Safe | Ask first | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| A letter or card | A small shared class token, cleared with the school head | Cash or gift cards |
| A class-made poster or video tribute | Food for a class programme, if the school programme allows it | A collection organised among parents |
| A thank-you said in front of the class | A group letter compiled by the homeroom | Anything given near a grading period alongside a request |
| A note to the school head praising the teacher | Anything expensive enough to feel like an obligation |
Writing Tips That Actually Change the Result
- Write it by hand if you can. It is kept more often. Neatness matters less than the fact that it is not a forwarded template.
- Use the language you actually speak with them. Filipino, English, Bisaya, Ilocano or the natural mix. Forced formal English is the fastest way to make a sincere letter sound copied.
- Spell the name and title correctly. Check the class list. Getting "Ma'am" versus "Sir," a married surname, or a middle initial wrong undercuts everything after it.
- Do not mention grades, exams or deadlines. Even innocently. A letter that arrives the week before a grading cut-off and mentions a subject you are struggling in reads differently than you intend.
- Write to one teacher, not to teachers in general. If you are thanking several, write several short letters rather than one addressed to everyone.
- If it is for a school programme, check the format the teacher-in-charge wants — some ask for a specific length, language, or that the letter be read aloud, which changes how you write it.
If You Are Writing on Behalf of a Class or a Parent Group
- Compile, do not average. Three short individual paragraphs from three students beat one committee-written page. Let each contributor keep their own specific moment.
- Name the contributors. A letter signed "your Grade 9-Rizal class" with the names listed is worth more than an unsigned one.
- Route it through the homeroom adviser or school head if it is going to be presented at a programme, so it fits the schedule the annual DepEd celebration memorandum and your division's memo have set for the day.
- Keep any accompanying gesture non-monetary. A tribute video, a poster, or a signed card avoids the collection issue entirely.
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Sources
- Republic Act No. 10743 — An Act Declaring the Fifth Day of October of Every Year as the National Teachers' Day (full text)
- Senate of the Philippines Legislative Reference Bureau — Proclamation No. 242, s. 2011 (National Teachers' Month)
- PRC — Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers, Board Resolution No. 435 (official PDF)
- Republic Act No. 6713 — Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees
- DepEd — DO 19, s. 2008: Implementation of No Collection Policy in All Public Elementary and Secondary Schools (official)
- DepEd — DO 013, s. 2022: Omnibus Guidelines on the Regulation of Operations of the Parent-Teacher Associations (official)
- UNESCO — World Teachers' Day
- SchoolFinderPH — Teachers' Day in the Philippines: Dates and Practice
- SchoolFinderPH — The Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers, Explained
