Text by Jennifer Manongdo
Photo by Sarah Pulumbarit

The University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) and the Department of Education (DepEd), Schools Division Office of Manila (SDO Manila) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on Oct. 15, 2025, that aims to tackle the rising prevalence of mental health issues among young secondary school students.

The partnership’s initiatives seek to emphasize public health approaches to mental well-being, particularly depression and anxiety, and are designed for homeroom teachers across junior high schools in the city. The modules emphasize recognizing and addressing mental health issues among teenagers, as well as encouraging timely help-seeking behaviors. The project is set to be implemented in 2026 and will run until 2027. 

Aside from anxiety and depression, Arlen Gatpo, public schools district supervisor of SDO Manila said many secondary students experience bullying. This echoes the results of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which dubbed the Philippines as “the bullying capital of the world,” as cited by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2). The PISA results also said 65% of Grade 10 students in the Philippines experience bullying a few times a month, the highest incidence among OECD countries. DepEd data shows that only 11% or 38 out of 339 bullying cases were resolved from November 2022 to July 2024, the EDCOM 2 noted.

The partnership between UPM and SDO Manila includes a research component on mental health promotion among secondary school teachers. “We will compare the outcomes of the group of teachers who will teach regular homeroom lessons and the group who will teach lessons on mental health literacy. The findings will be presented to the DepEd Central Office to support a potential broader implementation of the training initiative,” Dr. Crystal Amiel Estrada, professor of the Department of Environment and Occupational Health, CPH explained.

The mental health literacy program for educators was conceptualized in 2019 as part of the implementation of an ongoing collaboration with the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Japan, resulting in the development of educational modules and videos on mental health that will be pilot-tested in the city of Manila.#