Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday, February 12 urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to make its mental health program to be both cohesive and holistic.
Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said he is alarmed that the implementation of mental health programs is not consistent across the country's schools.
The senator also noted that despite the parents’ crucial role in upholding the well-being of children, they have no formal involvement in the DepEd’s existing mental health programs.
"In my own observation, our mental health program is incohesive and not holistic," Gatchalian said.
"We need to institutionalize it and make it sustainable too,” the lawmaker stressed, as he noted that many mental health disorders come with a heightened risk of taking one’s own life.
Based on the DepEd’s 2021 data, 404 learners died by suicide while 2,147 attempted suicide.
Their records also show that only 16,557 out of the country’s 60,157 schools have guidance offices and only 21,837 schools have conducted mental health celebration and awareness programs.
Gatchalian has filed Senate Bill No. 379 or the proposed Basic Education Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act which seeks to institutionalize the government's Mental Health Program.
Passage of the bill into law will provide mental health services, emotional, developmental and preventive programs, and other support system to ensure the social and emotional well-being of basic education learners and teaching and non-teaching personnel.
Senators earlier expressed alarm on the lack of guidance counselors in schools. To date, there are only 4,379 registered guidance counselors under the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) while only 3,286 are active.
In order to meet the ideal ratio of one guidance counselor per 500 students, 47,879 registered guidance counselors are needed nationwide.
To meet this demand, Gatchalian proposed increasing the salaries of Guidance Counselors 1 from Salary Grade 11 (P27,000) to Salary Grade (SG) 16 (P39,672); Guidance Counselor II to SG 17 (P43,030) from SG 12 (P29,165) and Guidance Counselor III to SG 18 (P46,725) from SG 13 (P31,320).
Gatchalian also pushed for the creation of a new position to be known as Guidance Associate who will actively participate in the implementation of the Mental Health and Well-Being Program.