Mental health issues are among the top five reasons why college students drop out, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero de Vera III said on Tuesday, October 1.
During the Senate Subcommittee on Finance hearing, it was revealed that mental health issues were among the emerging reasons for the concerning drop out rates in college students. This came after Senator Joel Villanueva pointed out the CHED's data on the high attrition rate among students.
Mental Health Concerns
De Vera cited financial difficulty as the biggest reason; in terms of transportation, food, clothing, internet fees, and graduation fees. The second one he cited is family problems, followed by relocation, mental health concerns, and lastly, academic difficulty.
According to the CHED Chairman, they did not expect mental health concerns to rank higher than academic difficulty, as it is currently an emerging issue.
The growing issue also poses a challenge within the guidance and counselling sector, as staffing concerns are amplified.
Shortage in Guidance Counsellors
“We have two projects ongoing na on mental health. We are working with Miriam College to roll out training of guidance counsellors in schools, and also the support staff on how to identify mental health concerns in schools,” De Vera said.
According to De Vera, the current ratio of guidance counsellors to students in higher education are 'not very good,' but is a lot better than basic and secondary education.
“In Higher Education, there are guidance counsellors. Our problem aside from the really difficult law that requires somebody to get a Master's before they take the licensure—(which) I hope our Senators will amend that law as fast as possible. Aside from that problem, guidance counselling is like a dead-end career because it is an administrative position, salary grade 11,” the CHEd Chairman said.
“Once you get there, there is no more career progression you have a Master's, what is happening is that the people who have a guidance and counseling degrees start off as guidance counselors and then they move to become faculty members; then they can get promoted as professors—from assistant to full," he added.
Due to this, schools deload their staff and make some of them as guidance counselors. De Vera added how schools are trying to find "imaginative ways" of continuing guidance counseling, but the low salary grade and the non-existence of career progression limits them.
Problems faced by the Youth
Villanueva cited a 2021 report from the Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study (YAFS) that said one in five Filipino youth aged 15 to 25 having considered ending their lives. Comparing the January 2023 data from the Department of Education (DepEd), the basic education sector has around 2,000 guidance counsellors for 28 million learners.
While the higher education has better figures, Villanueva highlighted Senate Bill No. 2598 or the State Universities and Colleges (SUC) Mental Health Services Act; an act for establishing mental health offices in all the SUC campuses in the country.
