A 16-year-old Grade 10 student of the Casiguran Technical Vocational School (CVTS) in Casiguran, Sorsogon took her own life last Tuesday afternoon, the second suicide in the school this month.
CTVS, formerly Casiguran Vocational High School, is the largest public secondary school in the municipality located some 23 kilometers from Sorsogon City.
A CTVS employee who requested anonymity said both victims were students of the school.
The first suicide early this month was an 18-year-old Grade 12 student.
The relatives of the second suicide brought her to the nearest hospital where she was declared dead.
The source said both students also attempted to end their lives in 2019. But the source said it is not clear if both students sought counselling after.
The DepEd Central Office has yet to issue a statement on the incidents.
Last February, DepEd Assistant Education Secretary Dexter Galban told the Senate that 404 young students in various parts of the country took their own lives and 2,147 others attempted suicide during Academic Year 2021-2022 when most schools were still closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Galban said of the 28 million learners in public schools, 775,962 sought the assistance of guidance counselors during the period.
Of those cases, 8,000 involved bullying.
A 2021 study by the University of the Philippines Population Institute showed that 20 percent of young Filipinos had considered ending their own lives.
In a television interview last month, DepEd spokesperson Michael Tan Poa said low salaries and lack of career progression have stymied the department’s drive to hire more school guidance counselors.
Poa said the DepEd only has 2,093 guidance counselors to cater to the needs of over 28 million students in the basic education sector, or a ratio of one guidance counselor per 14,000 students.
“The ideal ratio should have been one guidance counselor per 250 students,” he said then.
