President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed Republic Act 12322, granting the Department of Education broad flexibility in shaping the basic education curriculum. The measure, which became law on August 2, 2026, amends the 2013 Enhanced Basic Education Act and mandates a comprehensive curriculum review every five years.
Republic Act 12322 Overhauls Curriculum Standards
The newly enacted legislation alters the regulatory framework governing the country’s schools.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act (RA) 12322 granting the Department of Education (DepEd) flexibility in determining the most effective method and practice of teaching for the basic education curriculum.
Signed on Aug. 2, 2026, Malacanang said RA 12322 also required a comprehensive curriculum review every five years to ensure its relevance and effectiveness.
RA 12322 amended RA 10533, or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013,
which prescribed specific standards and principles for curriculum development.
Rather than prescribing strict methodologies by statute, the legislation establishes that The curriculum shall employ the approach deemed most effective by the DepEd to ensure mastery of knowledge and skills after each level,
the RA 12322 stated.
Alongside operational flexibility, the measure imposes a strict oversight schedule. The agency must now undertake a comprehensive curriculum review at least once every five years to determine their relevance and effectiveness in achieving the educational goals. This review process will be undertaken following a systematic curriculum development process determined by the DepEd.
Legislative Process and Implementation Timeline
Republic Act 12322, which amended the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, became a law on Aug. 2.
The statute carries a standard activation window. The new law will take effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.
ARAL TutorKo Platform Launch Targets Struggling Learners
As the legislative changes take shape, the department is simultaneously rolling out digital infrastructure to address academic recovery. DepEd launched the web-based tutoring management platform “ARAL TutorKo,” which aims to support struggling learners.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara introduced on Wednesday the ARAL TutorKo that would make tutor application, onboarding, deployment, attendance monitoring and session tracking more efficient under the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning program.
The platform will provide targeted learning interventions for learners who need additional support in foundational literacy and numeracy. It will also help streamline tutor recruitment, screening, onboarding, lesson management, learner grouping, scheduling, attendance tracking, daily time record submission and report generation.
Through dashboards and monitoring tools, TutorKo is expected to support real-time tracking of tutoring sessions, improve coordination across schools and strengthen data-driven decision-making for ARAL implementation.
The scale of the intervention addresses substantial academic need. The DepEd recorded 6.7 million struggling learners for academic year 2025-2026. By the end of the school year, 4.5 million learners improved their reading proficiency with the support of 442,906 ARAL tutors nationwide.
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