DepEd eyes more student support staff

The Department of Education (DepEd) is exploring the expansion of allied education professionals to better address the socio-emotional needs of public school students.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara announced the initiative during the Philippine Association for the Gifted (PAG) Conference last week, emphasizing the importance of holistic support for learners, particularly the gifted and talented.

“Our gifted and talented deserve not just cognitive acceleration but also socio-emotional support,” Angara said, noting the department’s collaboration with other government agencies to revise regulations and allow psychometricians to temporarily address the shortage of guidance counselors.

Currently, only about 4,000 guidance counselor positions are available in the basic education sector, and the country has just 96 developmental pediatricians to serve over 5.1 million learners with disabilities. 

Angara acknowledged these numbers are insufficient to meet the needs of the student population and stressed the urgency of expanding support services.

To address these challenges, Angara said the department has proposed a budget increase to boost resources and staffing. He also expressed gratitude to PAG for its commitment to training public school teachers to better support gifted and talented learners.

“Progress is a shared responsibility. Kaya nagpapasalamat kami sa PAG for their offer to help train our public school teachers. Our goal is to further capacitate schools and teachers to assess gifted and talented learners effectively,” Angara said.