DO 06, s.

2018 - School Year 2017-2018 K to

12 Basic Education Program End of School
Year Rites
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February 15, 2018
DO 06, s. 2018
School Year 2017-2018 K to 12 Basic Education Program End of School Year Rites

To: Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Bureau and Service Directors
Regional Secretary, ARMM
Regional Directors
Schools Division Superintendents
Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Heads
All Others Concerned

1. For School Year (SY) 2017-2018, the Department of Education (DepEd) announces the
conduct of the following End of School Year Rites:

Grade Level Completers Ceremony Proof of Completion

Moving Up or Kindergarten Certificate
Kindergarten
Completion (Enclosure No. 1)
Elementary Certificate
Grade 6 Graduation
(Enclosure No. 2)
Junior High School
Moving Up or
Grade 10 Certificate
Completion
(Enclosure No. 3)
Grade 12 learners from

a. Schools with DepEd-approved K

to 12 transition plan
Senior High School
b. Schools with permit to operate Graduation Diploma
Senior High School since 2014 (Enclosure No. 4)

c. International schools with K to

12 Program
 2. The 2018 ceremonies shall focus on the theme Mag-aaral ng K to 12: Handa sa Hamon
ng Buhay (K to 12 Learners: Ready to Face Life’s Challenges). Schools, divisions, or
regions may translate the theme in Mother Tongue. This theme highlights the role of K to
12 Basic Education Program in harnessing the skills and competencies of the Filipino
learners to face life’s challenges.

3. As announced in Enclosure No. 1 of DepEd Order (DO) No. 25, s. 2017 entitled School
Calendar for School Year 2017-2018, the end of school year rites should be scheduled not
earlier than April 2, 2018 but not later than April 6, 2018. Schools, divisions, or regions
with an extended school year will have to be guided by their approved revised school
calendar.

4. All Grade 12 learners are required to take the Basic Education Exit Assessment
(BEEA) which will be conducted before April 6, 2018. Details of the examination will
be issued on a separate memorandum.

5. In line with the government’s austerity program, DepEd reiterates the following
policies:

a. Graduation rites should be simple but meaningful which encourage civil rights, a sense of
community, and personal responsibility. While these rites mark a milestone in the life of
the learners, these should be conducted without excessive spending, extravagant attire, or
extraordinary venue;

b. Moving Up or Closing Ceremonies should be simple involving only the learners, their
parents and the school; and

c. Non-academic projects such as attendance to field trips, film showing, junior-senior

promenade, and other school events should not be imposed as requirements for
graduation or completion.

For Public Schools only

a. Expenses relative to the activity should be charged to the school’s Maintenance and Other
Operating Expenses under the 2018 Budget;

b. Any DepEd personnel should not be allowed to collect any graduation/moving

up/closing ceremony fees or any kind of contribution; and

c. Contribution for the annual yearbook, if any, should be on a voluntary basis.

6. Use of enclosed completion certificate and diploma templates:

For private elementary and secondary The use of the enclosed completion
schools, technical and vocational certificate and diploma templates is
institutions (TVIs), and higher education optional. The signature of the school
institutions (HEIs) including state head is required, while the signature of
universities and colleges (SUCs) and local the schools division superintendent is
universities and colleges (LUCs) not required.
The use of the enclosed completion
For public elementary and secondary
certificate and diploma templates is
schools
required.

7. Awarding of honors to learners from Grades 1 to 12 shall follow the guidelines stipulated
in DO 36, s. 2016 entitled Policy Guidelines on Awards and Recognition for K to 12
Basic Education Program.

8. Further, the end of school year rites and moving up or closing ceremony should be
conducted in an appropriate solemn ceremony befitting the learners and their parents, and
shall not be used as a political forum.

9. Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.

(Sgd)LEONOR MAGTOLIS BRIONES

Secretary

Encls.: As stated
References: DepEd Order: Nos. 8 and 25, s. 2017, and 36, s. 2016
To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:

BASIC EDUCATION
CERTIFICATE
DIPLOMA
GRADUATION
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
KINDERGARTEN EDUCATION
LEARNERS
POLICY
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
 (2017 Graduation Speech Manuscript)

Call me a graduate in a nonsensical fashion, and I will strip off this ceremonial robe, and simply
walk out, for the idea of graduation devoid of sense classically implies a good riddance of the
daunting EOP recitation in our English class, a surcease of the hundred-page ink-draining notes
in Filipino, and a denouement of a treasure-hunt drama in Math (to find the value of x, just
because our teacher could not move on from his own past).

Call me then an educated young man. Yes, an educated young man, for I have, by the changing
winds and shifting sands, been skillfully (and perhaps, fashionably) redesigned and
reprogrammed by the best minds and hearts of this academe. I have been reprogrammed, so
updated that I fully understand the change that has yet to start with me.

My dear teachers, our School Head Sir Melchor Layugan, our, distinguished guests, parents my
classmates and school mates good morning.

Realistically, this culmination could be nothing more than a semi-formal sharing of novel
insights, and an interim happiness brought by another milestone of achievement on the part of
our sponsors, our parents may be. Well, the latter, I suppose, was already realized right when the
list was released a week ago. So I have the privilege to satisfy you with the first as I am set to
discuss three important things— change, character, and contribution.

Change, as hyperlinked hashtags say, is coming. The question lies not on whether it has really
come for a few months now, but on our capacity to embrace or adopt what benefits it has to offer.
Needless to emphasize the cliché, as it runs now in your heads, change equates to a range of
dramatic to drastic transformative attempts that keep on knocking on our walls of
conservativeness and complacency. Thanks to the millennials, a cohort of risk takers so tolerant
of these intrusions, and better identified by their self-promotion and fostering of connections
through online media.

Silently at a corner, I have come to observe that most people around have been in haste, however
remained unmindful of their real causes. I would like to emphasize the qualifier that I used or
maybe a second thought, because as of this moment, a Facebook page promoting financial
literacy has already more than one point five million page likes and half a million [Filipino
people] have been talking about this. Likewise, more and more young professionals have been
inquisitive about investments and retirements. With these, I must say that we are advancing
toward the age of financial literacy, thus an evidence of heuristic targets progressively redefined.
In the academe, educators have been incessantly upgrading their skills and instructional
strategies. A rookie in the profession, for instance, has decided to reserve his Saturdays for MA
classes; a veteran, as the entire school tags her, has become a tech icon in her class; a language
teacher has shifted from grammar prescriptivism to descriptivist approach; and, our physical
fitness coach has initiated a five-minute hip hop Wednesday morning routine. Change has really
come not just in politics then.

Behind the fifty-shaded gray curtain of change comes the issue of character. We have always
been misunderstood, sometimes stigmatized, as the devil-may-care partners. Yes, we may be at
times. Have we totally changed appallingly? Inarguably, the web has promised us a vast array of
information, hacks and shortcuts to save time and do things in sprint, avenues for self and blatant
expressions, actually even multi-sided pieces of advice. So we resort to these privileges, however
with critical thinking.

I do not want to sound rude, but just a request — get used to it!

Our thinking could have been evolving from being idealist to realist and pragmatic; however, we
remain conservative with our Filipino values and cultural identities. We still uphold the
trademark heart of a Filipino. We may have expanded and keep on expanding our networks
through the horizons, but we keep our family ties even stronger. We may have failed to
communicate and clarify our priorities, but we trust more than anything else our capacity to
compensate. We may have become self-centered and covert with our intentions and convictions,
but such could be our implicit attempt towards rectifying the mistakes of the past.

Tell me now, what contribution is demanded of us? Don’t get offended. Frankly speaking, one of
the least examined culture-related problems confronting the issue of improving the quality of life
among most Filipino families is the conveyance of responsibilities and expectations across
generations. We, the younger ones have been unfortunately taken as investments by the former
generation, and once taking over, must pay back for the profits of such. Is that what we are really
demanded of?

With this year’s theme “Sabay-Sabay na Hakbang Tungo sa Maunland na Kinabukasan,” perhaps
it is the time that we think and work things out together. What we want is involvement, a fair and
regarded share in nation building. We can learn from each other.

Inspiring stories about young people who have found their passion have been surfacing on social
media. At their youngness, two girls have been earning thousands of pesos in uploading their
video reviews of the latest kiddie toys in the market. A kid blogger, as regarded by many, has
successfully established his micro-SEO company. Perhaps, we can start with these stories and
discover how generation gaps are bridged together.

True enough, we are now faced with greater challenges and expectations, but with harmony in
adopting change, understanding how character matters, and developing a culture of conscious
contribution, we advance each step toward a progressive future. As a parting gift, Henry Ford
once said, and I requote, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; and,
working together is a success.”
Thank you.