The Department of Education (DepEd) plans to seek additional funding from Congress to hire more school counselor associates as it ramps up efforts to safeguard students’ mental health and curb violence in public schools.
Speaking at the Kapihan sa Manila Prince Hotel forum on Wednesday, DepEd Governance and Operations Undersecretary Malcolm Garma revealed that the department has already initiated the recruitment process for nearly 10,000 counselor associates, with immediate deployment targeted at high-risk areas.
“Ipa-prioritize natin yung mga schools na, based on our mapping, yung hotspots where violence was recorded,” Garma said.
However, Garma emphasized that the initial 10,000 positions fall short of addressing the massive needs of the public education sector.
“[It’s] budget season, so we will be asking for more because that 10,000 [counselor associates] will not be enough for the more than 45,000 schools we have,” he added. DepEd is scheduled to present its proposed budget before the House Committee on Appropriations on September 7.
The move to hire counselor associates comes as DepEd continues to face a severe shortage of registered guidance counselors (RGCs) nationwide. DepEd Human Resource and Organizational Development Undersecretary Willie Cabral noted in August that out of the roughly 5,000 RGCs in the Philippines, only about 1,000 are currently employed under DepEd.
To bridge this critical gap, Garma said the agency is considering converting unused RGC budget items into positions for counselor associates. While not fully licensed guidance counselors, these associates will possess relevant academic backgrounds and training.
“Hindi ibig sabihin wala nang kakayahan itong associates to do counseling because they should be graduates of psychology or training in terms of behavioral science,” Garma explained. “We are optimistic that the hiring of counselor associates would be a game-changer in many schools.”
The renewed focus on mental health support and campus safety follows recent tragedies that alarmed educators, parents, and lawmakers. Fatal school shootings in Tacloban City on June 22 and Zamboanga City on August 18 intensified calls for robust psychosocial support systems and stricter security measures within educational institutions.
By placing trained counselor associates directly in schools, especially identified violence hotspots, DepEd aims to foster early intervention, mitigate adolescent mental health crises and prevent future violent incidents.