Senate approves bill on school-based mental health program

The Senate on Monday approved on the third and final reading a bill institutionalizing the promotion of mental health and well-being in basic education.

The Senate Bill 2200 or the Basic Education Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act, was approved with 22 affirmatives, zero negative votes, and zero abstentions during the chamber's plenary session.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairperson of the chamber's committee on basic education, said the school-based mental health program will cover out-of-school children in special cases that include learners with disabilities or conditions, indigenous peoples, children in conflict with the law, learners in emergency situations, and other marginalized sectors.

SB 220 mandates the Department of Education to establish and maintain care centers in every public basic education institution.

"Care Centers will be mandated to equip learners with skills and information for prevention, identification, and proper response and referral for their own and others' mental health needs," said Gatchalian, who also sponsored and authored the bill.

Gatchalian said the bill also provides for the creation of the new plantilla positions of Mental Health Associates I to V, and Mental Health Specialists I to V "to address the need for sufficient personnel" running the School-Based Mental Health Program.

The bill also seeks the conversion of existing plantilla positions of Guidance Counselors and Psychologists in the DepEd to Mental Health Specialists, he added.

There were only 1,192 filled positions for both guidance counselors and coordinators within the DepEd as of July 2022.

For School Year 2023-2024, the DepEd said that more than 26 million learners are enrolled, with 404 learners from public schools having died due to suicide for School Year 2021-2022.

In a manifestation, Senator Risa Hontiveros said the newly approved bill would further strengthen Republic Act 11036 or the Mental Health Act.

Hontiveros said accelerating the mainstreaming of a school-based mental health program would contribute not only to ensuring the physical but also the psychological safety of the learning environment.

"I do hope that our education authorities will be up to the challenge of institutionalizing and sustaining mental health programs in our schools," she said.