Manila, March 3 -- The Senate on Tuesday looked into the Department of Education's (DepEd) proposal to shift the basic education calendar from quarterly to a three-term structure beginning School Year 2026-2027, amid concerns over declining literacy and student proficiency.

Sen. Bam Aquino, chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said the inquiry aims to assess whether the structural reform would help address learning gaps and improve proficiency outcomes.

He cited the latest EDCOM II report showing that proficiency drops from 30.5 percent in Grade 3 to less than 1 percent by Grade 12, with only four out of every 1,000 senior high school graduates considered proficient.

"Sa bawat taon na naantala ang mga interbensyong ito, ma...