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Fewer than 2 in 100 primary school students require mental health support, number stable over last 5 years: MOE

SINGAPORE — Fewer than two in every 100 primary students require counselling for mental health issues, a proportion that has remained stable for the last five years, Ms Gan Siow Huang said in Parliament on Wednesday (Oct 5). 

The proportion of primary school students that require counselling for mental health issues was about 16 per 1,000 students as of 2021.
The proportion of primary school students that require counselling for mental health issues was about 16 per 1,000 students as of 2021.
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SINGAPORE — Fewer than two in every 100 primary students require counselling for mental health issues, a proportion that has remained stable for the last five years, Ms Gan Siow Huang said in Parliament on Wednesday (Oct 5). 

The Minister of State for Education was responding to questions by Mr Darryl David, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency (GRC), and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh.

Mr David had filed a parliamentary question on whether the number of primary school students requiring counselling for mental health issues has risen in the last five years, as well as how such students are managed when they transit to secondary school and beyond. 

Mr Singh then asked for the number of primary school students who needed counselling last year.

Ms Gan, in her response, revealed the data to be about 16 per 1,000 students as of 2021.

She said that although 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 to the child's new school.”

And with the consent of parents, information such as the strategies to support the child and the child's 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," she added. 

Mr David asked if the sharing of such sensitive information could go beyond the walls of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and be shared with other government agencies as well. He gave the example of a male student graduating and enlisting into National Service.

“Would (the Ministry of Defence) have accessibility to that kind of information, which is typically, I'm assuming, held by MOE?" he asked.

Ms Gan responded by saying that the Government is "very concerned about the continuity of mental health care and support for our young people", noting that an inter-agency task force for mental health had been set up last year. 

"MOE is plugged into this task force and we are discussing in greater 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 to respect the wishes of the individuals as well as their parents," Ms Gan added.

MOE previously said that in 2018, around 10 out of every 1,000 students overall at schools and institutes of higher learning received counselling support for anxiety or stress-related issues. 

TODAY has asked MOE for updated figures.

Related topics

mental health primary schools MOE counselling student

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