The counselor gap

By Herman M. Lagon

A few months ago, a DepEd teacher friend quietly told me about a student who had suddenly stopped participating in class. The grades slipped. The absences piled up. The classmates noticed but did not know what to do. The teacher wanted to help but was already juggling lesson plans, reports, remedial classes, parent concerns, and committee assignments. In another era, that child might have been referred immediately to a guidance counselor. Instead, the concern joined a growing queue of worries waiting for attention. That story is neither dramatic nor unusual. In many public—even private—schools, it is simply Tuesday. That is why the DepEd’s plan to hire 15,000 school counselors and counselor associates is not just another staffing announcement. It may be one of the most important education reforms in years.

The numbers paint a worrying picture. EDCOM 2 has long pointed to the shortage of guidance counselors, with some serving thousands of learners at a time. At one point, the ratio was estimated at roughly one counselor for every 14,000 students. Yet schools are expected to respond to everything from bullying and mental health concerns to family conflict and career confusion.

What makes this even more concerning is that today’s learners have endless access to information but limited access to guidance. Social media can answer questions quickly, but it cannot always help young people make sense of their choices and struggles. That student needs perspective. A child being bullied online does not need another motivational quote. That child needs someone trained to listen, assess, intervene, and connect. Guidance counseling has never been about giving advice alone. At its best, it helps people make sense of themselves.

The urgency becomes even clearer when viewed alongside the country’s learning crisis. Recent EDCOM 2 data showed that 1.3 million Grade 11 learners struggle with reading comprehension, with many operating at frustration levels where understanding texts becomes extremely difficult. Perhaps even more sobering is that only about four out of every 1,000 graduating senior high school students reach proficient learning levels. Behind those numbers are real young people whose struggles often extend beyond academics alone. Learning difficulties rarely exist in isolation. Behind weak academic performance may be poverty, family stress, trauma, poor mental health, hunger, uncertainty, or lack of motivation. A student who cannot focus because of domestic conflict may appear lazy. A child carrying depression may be mistaken for being disinterested. A learner worried about where the next meal will come from may find algebra or grammar the least urgent concern in life. Education is ultimately about human beings, not just competencies. Sometimes the barrier to learning is not cognitive. It is emotional.

My own work as a registered guidance counselor and educator has repeatedly shown me that students often reveal their deepest concerns in the most ordinary moments. Not during formal counseling sessions. Not during assemblies. Sometimes it happens after class, during a school activity, over a milkshake in the canteen, or while waiting for a parent. I remember learners who initially came to ask about course choices but eventually spoke about family separation, self-doubt, grief, or fear. The career question was merely the door. The real concern was inside the room. This reality echoes findings from our study on Junior High School students in Iloilo City, where career guidance emerged as the highest perceived counseling need, followed closely by personal-social concerns (Lagon et al, 2022). Students are not asking only what job they should take. Many are also asking, often silently, who they are becoming.

Yet hiring 15,000 personnel will not magically solve everything. The shortage is deeply structural. According to EDCOM 2, only a limited number of higher education institutions offer guidance and counseling programs, with CHED noting that only around 43 institutions nationwide provide such degrees and some regions having none at all. As a result, the pipeline of future counselors remains thin. Becoming a licensed guidance counselor is no easy path. It requires a master’s degree, specialized training, and passing a licensure examination. Yet the country has only a little over 4,000 licensed practitioners serving millions of learners. The challenge is compounded by relatively low starting salaries in government schools—about ₱28,000 a month despite the profession’s demanding qualifications. Even Education Secretary Sonny Angara has acknowledged that compensation remains low relative to the qualifications demanded. These realities help explain why both DepEd and CHED continue to struggle in building and retaining a strong pool of school counselors nationwide, making the government’s more than ₱182 million allocation for graduate scholarships in guidance counseling, psychology, and related fields in the 2026 budget just as important as the planned hiring itself.

There is also a deeper issue that deserves honest discussion. Guidance counseling has been one of the most neglected vocations in education for years. It’s emotionally taxing work and it’s often misperceived. Counselors assist students in dealing with crisis, mental health, career decisions, and personal problems. They hear stories that few others hear. They carry weights that are hardly reported. They carry burdens that do not appear in accomplishment reports. Yet compensation, staffing support, and public appreciation have not always matched the importance of the role.

This is why I find hope in smaller initiatives happening across communities. I am currently leading a two-year STEP UP extension program in San Enrique, Iloilo, where teachers, guidance designates, and wellness advocates pledged to help learners facing emotional challenges. None claimed to have all the answers. They simply believed that timely support can prevent silent struggles from becoming crises. Their series of trainings on Psychological First Aid focused on a simple framework: Look, Listen, and Link. In many ways, that is also the essence of good guidance work. Notice. Listen. Connect. Sometimes transformation begins with those three ordinary actions.

Still, caution is necessary. Hiring counselor associates should not become an excuse to neglect the long-term development of licensed professionals. Guidance designates, homeroom advisers, and counselor associates play valuable roles, especially in understaffed schools. Research by Medalla and Musni (2025) found that guidance designates often carry multiple responsibilities despite limited training and resources. Their contribution deserves recognition. However, support positions should strengthen professional counseling services, not replace them. Schools deserve both trained specialists and supportive adults—parents and guidance included. The choice should never be either-or.

The best thing about this drive is the message behind it: student well-being is important. Laws and improvements in bullying, mental health, and guidance services acknowledge that learning is more than academics. Behind every report card is a young person with struggles, questions, and pressures. Schools need competent teachers and infrastructure, but they also need individuals who can listen. In that sense these 15,000 counselor roles mean far more than jobs—they mean hope.

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Doc H fondly describes himself as a “student of and for life” who, like many others, aspires to a life-giving and why-driven world grounded in social justice and the pursuit of happiness. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions he is employed or connected with.