The Department of Education (DepEd) acknowledged a continuing shortage of guidance counselors and mental health professionals in public schools, citing thousands of unfilled positions and structural challenges in recruitment, amid rising concerns over bullying and student mental health.

DepEd officials said there remains a significant gap in personnel handling counseling and psychosocial support, with an estimated 4,000 vacant guidance counselor positions nationwide.

“The qualifications are quite steep. So I believe there's a master's degree that's involved as well for the qualifications. So mahirap po talagang i-fill yung position,” an education official said, noting that the required advanced degrees have made it difficult to attract and appoint qualified applicants.

To address the shortage, DepEd said it has opened positions for guidance counselor associates, which do not require a master’s degree but instead accept applicants with psychology-related or similar academic units.

The department also emphasized ongoing efforts to strengthen school-based mental health support by training teachers to identify early warning signs of bullying and related concerns among learners, particularly among younger children and those with special needs.

“Sila po talaga yung nakaka-identify if, for children of a young age nga po, if may nangyayari na pong precursors to bullying or signs or red flags po na the child is already being bullied,” they said, referring to trained educators who are being equipped to detect and report potential cases.

DepEd said the capacity-building program aims to enable teachers to act as frontline identifiers of student welfare issues, allowing earlier intervention and reporting even in the absence of a full complement of licensed guidance counselors.

Data from DepEd indicated that over 79,000 cases of bullying were documented from 2019 to 2022, while the national hotline received more than 1,000 reports of campus-related violence between late 2022 and early 2025.