SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Education to expedite the hiring of guidance counselors, psychologists, and psychometricians to fill vacancies in schools.

Gatchalian pointed out that the lack of guidance counselors is a major obstacle in addressing school bullying.

“As I mentioned, less than 10% of our schools have guidance counselors,” he reiterated.

“This new law, which was recently signed and whose Implementing Rules and Regulations were just finalized a few weeks ago, now allows the Department of Education to hire psychologists and psychometricians to serve as guidance counselors.”

The shortage of guidance counselors has been attributed to low salaries and high professional requirements.

“To become a licensed guidance counselor, you need to complete a master’s degree and pass a licensure exam,” Gatchalian explained.

“Despite these high requirements, they were previously earning only around ₱20,000 per month, which led many to seek jobs abroad or in the private sector.”

To make the profession more attractive, the new law raises their salary from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15, effectively increasing their pay to around ₱40,000 per month—double their previous earnings.

“We have around 27,000 registered psychologists and psychometricians in the country,” Gatchalian noted.

“Many of them are currently working in human resources or the private sector. Now that the salary is higher, they may be encouraged to join government service and work in schools,” he added.

Additionally, Gatchalian expects that the salary increase will encourage more students to pursue guidance and counseling courses in college, addressing the long-term supply issue of guidance counselors in the country.