THE Senate has approved the measure that seeks to institutionalize the School-Based Mental Health Program.

Voting 22-0, the senators approved on third and final reading Senate Bill 2200 or the proposed Basic Education Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act.

The measure authored and sponsored by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian aims to promote and ensure the mental health and well-being of learners in public and private schools.

The bill also covers learners with disabilities or conditions, indigenous peoples, children in conflict with the law, learners in emergency situations, and other marginalized sectors.

It mandates the Department of Education to establish and maintain Care Centers, which will equip learners with skills and information for the prevention, identification, and proper response and referral for their own and others’ mental health needs.

Care Centers shall improve the mental health awareness and literacy of teaching and non-teaching personnel.

The bill creates the new plantilla positions of Mental Health Associates I to V, and Mental Health Specialists I to V.

It will also rename guidance counselors and psychologists in the DepEd to mental health specialists.

Gatchalian earlier said that as of July 2022, there were only 1,192 filled positions for both guidance counselors and coordinators within the DepEd.