De La Salle Lipa (DLSL) and De La Salle University – Dasmariñas have joined forces in a twinning project that allows the two schools to offer a Master in Education, Major in Guidance Counseling program at DLSL.
The project is a response to Republic Act. 9258 (RA 9258), otherwise known as the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004, which was promulgated to professionalize the practice of Guidance and Counseling. Article IV, Section 27 of the said R.A. states that “No person shall engage in the practice of guidance and counseling without a valid Certificate of Registration and a valid Professional Identification Card or a special permit.” Because of the new law, licensure has become a prerequisite for the practice Guidance and Counseling.
During a seminar on the topic “Enhancing the Counseling Competencies of Counselors in the CALABARZON Area,” which was sponsored by the DLSL College and Integrated School Guidance Offices in October 22, 2004, Dr. Benedicta Lascano, the resource person from UP Diliman and the Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association (PGCA), discussed the implications of the new law for practicing counselors. The counselors who attended the seminar expressed their willingness comply with the said R.A. and they requested DLSL to help them find a way.
To accommodate the request, the College Guidance Office, together with the Psychology Department, proposed a twinning project with DLSU- Dasmariñas so that the master’s level counseling program might be offered at DLSL. A concept paper on the twinning project was created through the joint efforts of Dr. Corazon Abansi, the VP for Academics & Research (VPAR) who was then the former Dean of the College of Business, Economics, Accountancy & Management (CBEAM), and Mr. Erickson Martinez, now Dean for Student Services but, at the time, Head of the College Guidance Office.
DLSU – Dasmariñas was the obvious choice for a twinning relationship inasmuch as no other school offered such a program in the CALABARZON area. The program, which aimed at serving guidance practitioners in Batangas and neighboring provinces, also sought to strengthen the already solid relationship between the two La Salle Schools. After much discussion between representatives from both schools, it was decided the the program would be offered using the modular type of instruction, with classes to be held both in Lipa and in Dasmariñas.
Because of a grandfather rule on the act for exemption, certain subjects are given priority by the program. (Article 3 Section 14. Registration without Taking Licensure Examination. Letter b states “that if the counselor had passed at least eighteen (18) units of Master’s level courses in Guidance and Counseling such as Counseling Techniques/Theories, Organization and Administration of Guidance Services, Test and Measurement, Group Process/Counseling and Career Guidance/Counseling; and have at least seven (7) years of experience in counseling work.)
A memorandum of agreement between the two schools was signed late last April, and the program kicked into full gear soon afterwards. There were twenty-five enrollees for the first subject, which is expected to finish on the last week of August. Classes are held from eight to five every Saturday.