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Letters | Whether it’s Hong Kong or the Philippines – to tackle stress in schools, ditch the shame and start talking
- Teachers and students alike are stressed out by heavy workloads. Let’s start to address the issue by avoiding the culture of shame and opening up a conversation
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I am a Filipino secondary school pupil studying in a non-Chinese-speaking government-subsidised school in Hong Kong. As someone familiar with learning environments both in the Philippines and Hong Kong, I find that stress is a common factor.
Hong Kong students’ mental health problems have been a hot topic in recent years, especially with rising suicide rates. Schools in Hong Kong have tried Band-Aid solutions, such as providing counselling services, reaching out to students showing symptoms of mental health problems and ensuring that they are in a safe, supportive school environment. However, a survey in 2017 revealed that nearly 70 per cent of students in Hong Kong are emotionally disturbed, and that 20 schools with 700 to 800 students each share just one clinical psychologist.
Teachers feel the pressure, too. But do Hong Kong students and teachers really have the time to spread awareness and be more conscious of their mental health, given the city’s fast-paced work and school environments?
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Two studies in September 2018 showed about half of the teachers and secondary school pupils in Hong Kong show signs of depression, as they put in cruel hours each week. Survey after survey highlights all these mental health issues, but how much has actually been done to tackle them?
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