Review of and Actions Taken Following Study on Teachers' Mental Health

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry has conducted a review of the 2021 study by the Singapore Counselling Services on teachers’ mental health; (b) if so, what measures have the Ministry taken in light of the survey results; and (c) if not, why not and whether the Ministry will conduct a review.

Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Education (MOE), regularly monitors our teachers' well-being through internal surveys, dipstick polls and regular engagements. Together, these inputs give us a holistic understanding of their well-being and provide useful information to help us adjust our policies and programmes as necessary. It also allows us to take targeted actions to support schools that require more help.

Teachers who need support can reach out to their supervisors and school leaders. They may also tap on other channels for support, such as their school's Wellness Ambassadors who provide peer support, MOE's in-house professional counselling services and the external counselling hotline provided as part of wider the whole-of-Government efforts to support our officers.

I thank you, Sir. Could I just ask the Minister, whether MOE has reviewed the report that I cited in my Parliamentary Question (PQ)? And second, whether we are seeing an increasing or decreasing trend in terms of number of teachers that are seeking help from our in-house counselling?

The answer is yes. We have looked at the report, but the report was conducted post-COVID-19; it was in 2021. So, we think that situation may vary, may be different today. I do not have the details or the figures of those who have sought help, but I want to assure Mr Ng that the well-being of our teachers is paramount to MOE. As mentioned, we do dipstick surveys, we visit schools on a very regular basis. The political officeholders – Minister Chan Chun Sing, Minister of State Gan Siow Huang and myself – we are visiting schools almost on a weekly basis. Our senior management visits schools and meet our teachers on a very regular basis, engage them, understand their concerns, respond, should there be immediate needs and create an infrastructure and an ecosystem that is supportive for our teachers.