Editorial | Educate Hong Kong’s schools on mental health issues
- Emergency mechanism to help at-risk Hong Kong students should be reviewed to offer greater support and investigate the number of psychiatric referrals
It is good that measures have been introduced to support students following a worrying rise in the number of young people struggling with mental health problems, and a tragically sharp rise in suicides.
While the Education Bureau is now operating a three-tier emergency mechanism for schools to refer students at risk of suicide for professional help, it appears that further adjustment to the scheme – and greater guidance on it – is warranted.
Introduced in December and due to run until the end of this year, the referral mechanism provides principals with a channel to help at-risk students. It is a welcome response to the impact of pandemic isolation that was particularly cruel to youngsters.
School shutdowns and study-from-home rules deprived most of vital face-to-face interaction with classmates and teachers. Things have not been much easier since restrictions were lifted with some returning to school to find a close friend or favourite teacher has emigrated.
The mental health crisis is all too real. A Chinese University survey last year found a quarter of Hong Kong children suffered from mental illness and more than 8 per cent of secondary school students had thought about suicide.
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Under the first tier of the mechanism, schools prioritise counselling students through their interdisciplinary team. In tier two, those short of manpower refer students to an off-campus network organised by the Social Welfare Department.
