All publicly funded secondary schools in Hong Kong to get two social workers in bid to tackle youth suicides as finance chief Paul Chan earmarks HK$130 million for measure
- To implement the budget measure, an extra 370 school-based registered counsellors will be hired
- Financial Secretary Paul Chan will set aside HK$124 billion for education sector, or 20.4 per cent of estimated total government spending
Every public secondary school in Hong Kong will have two social workers to counsel pupils in a bid to put an end to youth suicides, according to the budget unveiled by the city’s finance chief on Wednesday.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the administration would spend HK$310 million (US$16.7 million) to implement the measure for the city’s 463 publicly funded secondary schools.
According to government sources, the decision took into consideration recommendations made by the Committee on Prevention of Student Suicides, which the government set up in March 2016 to tackle a spate of cases of schoolchildren taking their own lives.
“Teen issues have become increasingly complex over the years and with higher suicide rates, there is a need to earmark more resources to take care of youngsters’ needs,” the source said.
Currently, each school has one social worker stationed on the premises and shares another one with four other schools.