Education Ministry orders immediate school interventions for students showing mental health warning signs

JOHOR BAHRU, June 23 — The Ministry of Education (MOE) has urged schools to carry out immediate interventions for students identified as showing signs of mental health issues to ensure their welfare and safety continue to be safeguarded.

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said that, in addition to the role played by schools, parents also need to provide support to their children in addressing such issues.

“We conduct mental health screening interventions, while efforts to strengthen the capacity of school counsellors are also being given due attention.

“Whenever there are signs of mental health problems, school counsellors must intervene immediately,” she said at a press conference after launching the Madani Furniture Initiative and the Kalvi Madani programme at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT) Jalan Yahya Awal here today.

She was commenting on the case of a Form Four female student who died at a secondary school in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, last Friday.

In October last year, Fadhlina said the ministry had doubled the implementation of the Healthy Mind Screening programme to twice a year to enable the early detection of students showing signs of depression or those requiring further support and intervention.

Meanwhile, she said the Safe School Management Guidelines and the School Student Protection Policy introduced by the MOE are mandatory for all school administrators to implement without compromise.

She said the measures are among the ministry’s efforts to ensure that issues related to student safety continue to be given priority.

On June 12, Fadhlina reportedly said that the guidelines would serve as a reference for all educational institutions under the MOE, outlining the responsibilities of schools, teachers and stakeholders in ensuring students’ welfare and safety are safeguarded. — Bernama