ILOILO City – The Department of Education (DepEd) Region 6 is grappling with the challenge of hiring registered guidance counselors, a crucial role in addressing the mental health needs of students, as well as teaching and non-teaching personnel.
Currently, DepEd-6 has 36 registered guidance counselors with plantilla items, but it needs 476 more.
“The guidance counselor position has been reported as hard to fill. We’ve already reported this to the Central Office,” said Romeo Sanchez, Administrative Officer V and Human Resource Management Officer of DepEd-6.
One of the primary reasons for the shortage, according to Dr. Ramir Uytico, regional director, is the requirement for candidates to hold a master’s degree.
“We have available items for guidance counselors, but there are no takers because the qualification requires an MA degree. In fact, this is one of the many unfilled positions due to a lack of qualified applicants, and the salary isn’t very competitive,” Uytico explained.
Uytico hopes that Congress and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will address this issue by increasing the salaries of guidance counselors and considering lowering the qualification requirements.
According to DepEd-6 Regional Information Officer Hernani Escullar Jr., most of the mental health problems reported by students are related to bullying.
Additionally, the department recorded cases of suicides and attempted suicides among students, which occurred at their homes last school year.
“Guidance counselors play a significant role in supporting students and may help prevent such incidents,” said Escullar.
In the meantime, schools without registered guidance counselors are designating capable teachers to act as counselors, adding these duties to their existing responsibilities.
Uytico emphasized the importance of resolving the shortage of registered guidance counselors not only in Region 6 but across other regions as well, given the crucial role they play in addressing mental health problems among learners and school staff.
Mental health is one of the priority programs of DepEd-6. Just this August, the regional office launched a training workshop for education leaders in the Panay and Guimaras clusters, followed by a similar program in September for the Negros Occidental cluster.
The theme of the workshop was “Breaking the Barriers, Strengthening the Bond”, which focused on providing workshops on psychology, first aid, and school health programs.
This initiative is in partnership with West Visayas State University (WVSU) – College of Medicine, WVSU – Medical Center, particularly the Department of Psychiatry, and the Department of Health (DOH) – Western Visayas Center for Health and Development (CHD).
Earlier this year, the DepEd-6 Regional Health Nutrition Unit also conducted virtual sessions focused on the mental health issues faced by learners and staff in the workplace./PN
