Three-Term School Calendar of the Department of Education (DepEd): What Lies Beneath the Reorganization?
Carie Justine Estrellado
Received: 31 May 2026; Revised: 28 June 2026; Accepted: 12 July 2026; Published: 14 July 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.66074/F1K7X4N3
Abstract
The Philippine basic education system is caught in a recursive search for structural development to fix its systemic deficiencies. This study interrogates the Department of Education’s formal adoption of a three-term school calendar for School Year (SY) 2026–2027 (DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026). While administrative discourse frames this shift as a pursuit of instructional optimization and teacher welfare, it is not a mere chronological adjustment. It is an exercise in cultural hegemony that redefines the parameters of educational reform to manufacture consent. In systemic proviso, framing the calendar as the primary lever for educational recovery deliberately redirects the national gaze away from crushing material crises. Analyzed through a Gramscian vista, this report posits that the reform functions as a top-down structural adjustment designed to preserve the status quo by prioritizing bureaucratic efficiency over material reform.
Keywords: Department of Education, Gramscian philosophy, three-term school calendar
Author Information: University of the Philippines Open University, Philippines; cpestrellado@up.edu.ph
Volume 2, Issue 3, September 2026