đź“·Education Secretary Sonny Angara
The Philippines is now the “bullying capital of the world” because of the “highest incidence” of bullying among students, Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) Executive Director Karol Mark Yee said on Tuesday, August 13.
Yee made the announcement in a Malacañang press briefing after the Programme for International Student Assessment results showed that the Philippines has one of the highest rates of students reporting they have been bullied during their school years.
According to PISA’s results published in 2023, at least one in three Filipino students experienced bullying in school, with 43 percent of girls and 53 percent of boys affected.
This rate is significantly higher than the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) average, where 20 percent of girls and 21 percent of boys reported being bullied.
During the press briefing, Yee also said that numerous studies have demonstrated the direct impact of bullying on students’ academic performance.
“We are the bullying capital of the world, based on PISA. Lumabas sa PISA na yung nabu-bully, bagsak talaga siya so malaki yung impact,” he said.
“Yung school environment, kung hindi mo feel na safe ka doon, paano ka magpo-focus sa pag-aaral mo kung lagi kang naghihitay ng paraan para depensahan ang sarili mo,” he added.
Yee also pointed out that Filipino students are among the “loneliest” in the world since most bullied Filipino students feel that they don’t belong.
To effectively tackle bullying in schools, Yee and Education Secretary Sonny Angara emphasized the need for guidance counselors. Currently, there are 5,000 unfilled positions for guidance counselors.
Angara highlighted that this poses a major challenge for the Department of Education (DepEd) due to the “shortage” of guidance counselors in the country.
However, Angara admitted that it would take the agency 14 years to fill all vacant guidance counselor positions in schools because there are only a limited number of graduates from master’s degree programs in guidance and counseling each year.
“To fill all of the vacancies, it will take us 14 years with the current setup. Para maging isang guidance counselor, nasa batas kailangan magka-master’s degree ka. Number one, ‘yun ang naging problema,” Angara said.
“Almost 5,000 [DepEd] plantilla positions are vacant, but if you look, almost no school offers MA in guidance and counseling,” Yee noted.
The DepEd secretary mentioned that the department intends to suggest changes to Republic Act 9258, also known as the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004, to eliminate the master’s degree requirement for guidance counselors.
Additionally, Angara noted that DepEd is working on offering students sufficient mental health support through mentors or designated teachers. (TCSP)
