THE Education chief on Wednesday said the rising cases of school-related bullying, which has led to the Philippines being tagged as the “bullying capital of Asia,” are linked to the lack of counselors nationwide.
“The bullying incidents have really increased. It’s not a distinction that we take lightly,” Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara said during the budget hearing on Wednesday.
A report from the Department of Education (DepEd) National Capital Region (NCR) in April revealed that bullying cases increased to 2500 in School Year 2024–2025 from 2,268.
Mr. Angara said that the hike in reports has led the department to do a “scrap and build” approach. “We cut some guidance counselor positions to create more slots for counselor associates.”
Under the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP), the Education department sought to allocate P2.038 billion of its proposed P928.52 billion budget to reach its target of 10,000 School Counselors Associate I (SCA I).
“They are easier to hire because we don’t need a master’s degree for this,” Mr. Angara said. “They just need certain units in psychology and counseling, and other relevant courses.”
Kabataan Partylist Representative Renee Louise M. Co noted during the hearing that the ideal global ratio is one counselor for every 250 students.
“We should have 54,000 counselors. There are only 4,069 registered as of 2022,” Ms. Co said. “If we’re going to lower it to one per school, we should have 45,000.”
Mr. Angara acknowledged that while the recommended number of counselors exceeds 50,000, the country faces a “supply problem” that cannot be addressed immediately.
“According to the psychology professionals, there are only 32,000 psychometricians in the country,” he said.
“There are regions where there are zero enrollees in these programs, so that is something that cannot be solved by DepEd alone,” he added.
LEARNING ENVIRONMENTIn its proposed 2026 budget, the Education department allocated P41.6 billion for students’ learning environment, of which P13.2 billion is for the construction of approximately 4,800 classrooms and P6.1 billion for the repair and rehabilitation of classrooms.
The Philippines currently has 165,000 classroom backlogs, which stemmed from different factors, according to Mr. Angara.
To create more classrooms, the department plans to enter Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) next year for the construction of more than 100,000 classrooms, with a target completion date of five years after groundbreaking.
Mr. Angara said it may take some time as it needs to through the Investment Coordination Committee and then the Economy and Development Council.
Since taking office in July 2024, Mr. Angara has obtained over P458 million in private sector pledges, which will support the construction of at least 84 new classrooms and various facility improvements.
The DepEd is also working on a “flexibility proposal” with the local government units (LGUs) in provinces and different cities, which Mr. Angara said is faster than PPPs.
“You just need to release the money to the local government, and then they will be the ones bidding out the construction of the school building,” he said.
Currently, most school building projects are channeled through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). By engaging more LGUs, DepEd said it could accelerate the delivery of school infrastructure.
“The DPWH is not the exclusive implementor of the school building program,” Mr. Angara told BusinessWorld in an ambush interview.
“That way, we won’t rely on only one because theoretically it’s 200+ implementing units,” he added.
DepEd assured that it will have standardized classroom designs, cost ceilings, and technical specifications that will serve as guidelines to ensure the safety and quality of newly built classrooms nationwide.
The education sector’s proposed P1.224-trillion budget for 2026 aligns with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) recommendation of allocating four percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to education. — Almira Louise S. Martinez
