Sharing of Counselling Information when Primary School Students Transition to Secondary School and Beyond

Mr Deputy Speaker, the number of Primary school students being referred to school counsellors for mental health-related issues was stable between 2017 and 2021. Some of these students may require counselling support even after they graduate from Primary schools. The school counsellors facilitate this by engaging parents to discuss how the counselling support can be extended in the child's new school. With the parents' consent, information such as the strategies to support the child and his challenges will be shared with the receiving school. Such information will be managed sensitively and will only be shared on a need-to-know basis.

I would like to thank the Minister of State for her reply. Just one supplementary question, Mr Deputy Speaker. I think the Minister of State mentioned that such information will be sensitively managed and shared on a need-to-know basis. Could the Minister of State further explain, with regard to even sharing the information beyond MOE, for example, in the future with other Government agencies, how is that information managed and accessed?

For example, if a male student should need to get mental support, mental healthcare, throughout his scholastic journey, and when he enlists in the Army, would MINDEF have accessibility to that kind of information, which is typically I am assuming, held by MOE. Could the Minister of State please provide some clarity on issues like that?

I thank the Member for a very good question. We are very concerned about the continuity of mental health care and support for our young people. The Member might also be aware that the inter-agency task force for mental health and well-being has been stood up. MOE is plugged into this task force and we are discussing, in great depth, on how we can provide continuous care as well as to do so in a manner that respects the need for medical confidentiality and also that respects the wishes of the individuals as well as their parents.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Just a quick question for the Minister of State. She mentioned earlier that the number has been stable. Can I just enquire from the Minister of State what is that number, particularly, for the last year?

The number of students that require mental health support in our Primary school has been stable for the last five years. In particular, in the last year, the number was about 16 per 1,000 students.