The number of Hong Kong students with reported mental health problems shot past 1,400 in the last academic year, more than doubling from four years ago, with experts and educators blaming the 2019 protests and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The hardest hit were students in tertiary institutions, where the number tripled from under 250 in 2018-19 to 776 this year.
Some feared that the actual number of young people with mental health issues could be much higher, while others said the rising trend might also reflect increased awareness and a greater willingness among young people to seek help.
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Official figures provided to the legislature by the Education Bureau showed a 140 per cent increase in the number of primary to tertiary-level students with mental health issues over four school years.
They included anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychotic, bipolar and oppositional defiant disorders, Tourette’s syndrome and eating problems.
Mental illness registered the highest increase among all types of special education needs in Hong Kong.
Other special education needs, including autism, intellectual disability, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, and speech and language impairment also recorded double-digit increases at primary and secondary schools over a five-year period.
The number of children with mental health issues rose from 25 to 42 among those as young as six to eight, and from 30 to 86 for those in Primary Four to Six.
In secondary schools, the number of 12 to 14-year-olds with mental health disorders rose 130 per cent, and it was worse in senior grades.
Among Secondary Four to Six students, the number more than doubled from under 200 to over 500. Aged around 15 to 17, these students were preparing for their university entrance exams.
At the higher education level, 776 students currently in sub-degree and undergraduate courses had mental health issues, up from fewer than 300 five years ago.
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Among those who pointed to the social unrest and pandemic as explanations for the surge in numbers was speech therapist Ikey Cheung Ho-yuen, a member of the Advisory Committee on Mental Health.
“Social-distancing measures meant students had no campus life and support from their peers, and that was not good for building resilience,” he said.
Students were also anxious about their academic performance after the prolonged period of online learning.
He said the protests, which triggered a wave of emigration from Hong Kong, also left some feeling depressed as they were separated from friends and relatives.
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Cheung feared the actual figures for young people with mental health issues could be higher than the official data as students were confirmed as having a mental illness only after being assessed formally by psychiatrists or clinical psychologists.
“The assessment may also need the schools’ recommendations and the agreement of parents and the students themselves,” he said.
Social worker Tik Chi-yuen, a lawmaker representing his sector, said he had asked the bureau for the data and found the figures worrying.
He said tertiary students were involved in the 2019 anti-government protests and many were still dealing with the trauma of what they had witnessed.
“Most felt helpless and depressed as the government did not hear their voices,” he said, lamenting that the authorities treated young people as the source of trouble and left them out of the policymaking process.
“The government needs to engage the young and give them a positive response,” he said.
School principal Chu Kwok-keung, a lawmaker representing the education sector, blamed the worsening mental health situation on what he described as “monotonous” academic assessments based only on examination results.
“Parents and students are increasingly anxious about academic performance and suffer huge psychological pressure,” he said.
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He added some school social workers and counsellors did not have the skills to help students with mental illness and needed training.
The SCMP posed questions to the Health Bureau, but its spokesman said the issue of mental health among the young was outside its purview and it did not have any input.
A spokeswoman for the Education Bureau, which was asked how it was addressing the rise in numbers, said it had sent out a wide range of information through various channels on mental health and how to support children’s learning and their physical and mental development.
These included videos on how to help children adapt and be resilient, and pamphlets, e-posters and useful tips for coping with various mental health issues.
“The Education Bureau also provides regular online gatekeeper training for parents to help them identify and support their children’s mental health needs at an early stage so that they can help their children embrace challenges ahead with a positive attitude,” she said.
Ma Ngok, an associate professor of government and public administration at Chinese University, said the higher proportion of tertiary students with mental health issues reflected their heightened awareness.
“University students might be more aware of their mental state and whenever they flag it to the school, they would be encouraged to seek help from counsellors,” he said. “Usually their application to defer their studies would be approved if they were diagnosed with a mental illness.”
