THE DEPARTMENT of Education admitted that it has difficulty hiring guidance counselors because it cannot offer high salaries.

Based on DepEd’s data, there are only 2,000 guidance counselors for the 28 million students in public schools. This means that there is only one guidance counselor for every 14,000 students.

DepEd Spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa said that the salary of a guidance counselor is at the entry level.

“Nasa P27,000 po ‘yan this year,” he said.

“Kaakibat ng sahod is ‘yung qualifications na hinihingi natin sa kanila. So ‘yung qualifications po kasi kailangan masters degree holder sila, and base doon sa sahod, hindi talaga siya attractive,” Poa said.

The need to hire more guidance counselors cropped up following the DepEd report on the rising number of students who committed or attempted suicide.