During a recent House committee on appropriations hearing, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said that there are only 4,069 licensed guidance counselors in the country as of 2022, a number that is far from the more than 50,000 needed to meet the ideal global ratio of one counselor for every 250 students, as pointed out by Kabataan Representative Renee Co.
“There’s a long-term plan, but the implementation of the mental health and well-being [program] will cost over a trillion pesos, so it can’t be funded overnight. And the over 50,000 filling up of positions you raised, according to the psychology professionals, there are only 32,000 psychometricians in the country. So there’s also a supply problem,” Angara said.
He added that there are over 4,000 counselor vacancies budgeted for this year, which is unlikely to be filled in the next 5 years, since universities are not producing enough graduates.
One of the problems that could be addressed by the availability of guidance counselors is bullying. According to Co, 65 percent of Filipino students reported being victims of at least one type of bullying a few times a month, while 50 percent are being bullied frequently, much higher than the 20 percent global average of bullying.
Angara agreed with her, citing an Asian-Pacific Regional Study calling the Philippines the “bullying capital of Asia.”
The acute shortage of qualified guidance counselors in the country has long been identified as an issue that needs to be addressed, but until now, nothing substantial has been done. Public officials are aware of the problem, but there have not been enough incentives, long term programs, or scholarship grants aimed at filling the gap, where the country only has 4,069 licensed guidance counselors but actually needs 50,000.
The sheer scale of the problem ensures that DepEd alone cannot address it. It will need the entire government’s focus and cooperation, which might be a bit difficult to muster when priorities lie elsewhere. Hopefully we can chip away at the issue, one year at a time, and find ways to provide enough qualified guidance counselors for a country as populous as ours.*
