Creating Awareness among Students of Counselling Support

The following question stood in the name of Dr Lim Wee Kiak –

To ask the Acting Minister for Education (Schools) (a) how do schools create awareness among the students to offer their help to those who need emotional counselling and support; (b) what happens when a student needs emotional help outside of school hours; and (c) how do schools go about strengthening the mental well-being and resilience of students to face challenges.

Madam, our teachers explicitly teach social-emotional skills and coping strategies from primary school through to secondary school. Our schools also provide opportunities to build resilience when students experience, manage and overcome challenges through co-curricular activities and outdoor education programmes, including camps.

Schools work with parents and provide them with resources to help reinforce these skills and a resilient mindset at home and facilitate parenting workshops through the Parent Support Groups. Our teachers are trained to identify students in distress and to refer them for counselling support by professionally trained school counsellors. Students are also taught to look out for one another and to seek help from trusted adults if they cannot cope. Awareness is further strengthened through posters, helplines and student handbooks. Schools refer students and families requiring support to family service centres in the community, or to mental health professionals.

Outside of school hours, 24-hour helplines are available. Parents can also bring their children to seek medical help from their family doctor or the nearest hospital.

May I ask the Minister of State, recently, there were some media reports about students committing suicide; does the Ministry of Education review all circumstances to ascertain why the warning signs about such students were not detected earlier and to see how we can plug the gap and try to make sure that such suicides do not recur?

Madam, I thank the Member for the question. The Ministry does review every case. Often, there were no warning signs. So, we need to find out what are the other stressors that perhaps were not picked up by the existing system, and the processes that we have. We are undertaking a further review of our strategies as well as our possible interventions to prevent suicides.