Number of Students Who Suffer from Depression and Other Mental Conditions

11 Miss Cheng Li Hui asked the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) what is the number of students who suffer from depression and other mental conditions over the last five years; (b) what are the main causes for such cases; and (c) what resources are channelled towards identifying and watching out for the at-risk students.

The Senior Minister of State for Education (Dr Janil Puthucheary) (for the Ministers for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, the number of students suffering from depression or other types of mental health conditions is difficult to determine as students and parents may choose not to disclose the student’s condition for a variety of reasons. Some remain undiagnosed due to a lack of awareness of the mental health condition or for fear of stigmatisation.

Mental health problems among students, including depression, are often the result of multiple factors, including relationship issues at home or among friends, difficulties in coping with high expectations or different demands in school, experiencing setbacks in life or having a family history of mental illness.

MOE has been working with agencies, such as MOH, HPB, Institute of Mental Health and MSF, to provide support for our students. Schools monitor the socio-emotional and mental well-being of students, primarily focusing on social and emotional learning and building strong support networks. Our teachers are equipped to identify students in distress, provide timely support and refer them to the school counsellors for counselling support. Those requiring further assessment and intervention will be referred to medical professionals.

Miss Cheng Li Hui (Tampines): I thank the Senior Minister of State. I have three supplementary questions. First, how are teachers trained to identify at-risk children? Second, for every child, how do the schools then work with their family, Family Service Centres and mental health clinics to help them? Third, for the children who are identified in Primary school and moving on to Secondary school, is there a process for the schools to pass information to the next education institution?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Sir, the training of teachers involves a number of components with respect to behaviour, cognition, interaction with peers, as well as interaction with adult authority figures, how the students react to and interact with the rules in the environment of the school. It is not something that is an aside; it is something central to how teachers are trained to react to and to interact with the behaviour of students. So, as part of that training, coming out of that, abnormalities of behaviour, abnormalities of adjustments, abnormalities of coping are very much part of what would be considered the core of teacher training.

Certainly, a multi-agency approach is taken. I think the Member was asking about the way in which the teachers work with other agencies. But, of course, this is predicated on the consent and understanding of both the students and the family and whether the teacher is aware of the child's condition. There are instances where they prefer for this information not to be shared and to work with community partners or healthcare partners and not actually discuss this with the teacher. It is hard to say whether this is ideal or optimal, because it is a very wide field, and there will be circumstances where it is appropriate for the family, for the child to make that decision and keep the matter private. But, in general, it would be better if the teachers could be involved in this process. But I do not think we want to be prescriptive about this process.

Lastly, on the issue of the handover of information from the Primary school to Secondary school – again, it depends on the specifics of the case, about the extent to which the educational professionals are aware of the child's mental health issues. If we talk in general terms, we do want some opportunity for privacy, for some opportunity of parental consent and for the child to have some control over the issue, especially if it is an issue that is resolved and is no longer causing any problem or affecting the child.

On the other hand, for the same circumstance, you can make an argument that the educators in the Secondary school need to know on the basis of the child's risk of something happening. But not to be prescriptive again, is whether to perhaps remove entirely the family and the child's ability to have some input into that process of privacy. It is a case-by-case basis. We take it and, in general, we would hope that the education service could play a role in helping these children.