Mental health problem among students worry senators
AMID the growing number of students with mental health problem, Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Joel Villanueva and Pia Cayetano urged the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to prioritize improving guidance counseling programs.
During the Senate hearing on the CHED 2025 budget, the three senators also called for expediting the reconstitution of technical panels to tackle pressing issues in the education sector.
Villanueva highlighted the significant shortage of guidance counselors in the country’s education system.
In the hearing, CHED chairperson Popoy de Vera acknowledged that mental health issues are a major reason for student dropouts.
Villanueva pointed out that guidance counseling has seen a decline in enrollees and graduates due to limited career opportunities in the field.
Data from the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) showed that the Department of Education (DepEd) has only 2,000 guidance counselors for approximately 28 million students while higher education institutions (HEIs) have a better ratio of counselors to students, the shortage of graduates from guidance counseling programs remains a serious problem. De Vera disclosed that only 43 HEIs across the country offer guidance counseling programs, describing the career path as “a dead end.”
“There are actually regions in the Philippines where no university offers guidance counseling, making it incredibly difficult to produce enough guidance counselors. For instance, Region II and Region IX currently have no HEIs offering such programs,” De Vera said.
He called on Congress to amend relevant laws to address the shortage.
Cayetano supported the call to accelerate solutions, proposing an additional 12 to 18 units of coursework for students pursuing degrees like education, allowing them to qualify as “school counselor associates.”
De Vera welcomed this proposal, noting that CHED would work to implement it.
The reconstitution of CHED’s technical panels, which review and update academic programs to align them with industry demands, was another focal point during the Senate hearing. EDCOM 2 reported that from 2020 to 2023, only 15 of 98 technical panels had been reconstituted, leaving a backlog of 63 panels.
Aline Magalong, Director of CHED’s Office of Programs and Standards Development, provided an update, stating that as of October 1, 33 panels had been reconstituted.
However, many overlapping disciplines are still being reviewed and consolidated.
De Vera explained that the reconstitution of panels, particularly in engineering and technical fields, is ongoing.
He mentioned that CHED is working with the Private Sector Advisory Council and aims to complete the process by December 2024.
