24 August 2021
There will be more school counsellors assigned to Singapore’s public schools in order to alleviate the shortage of professional counsellors currently assigned. Currently, every Ministry of Education school has one or two counsellors.
While mental health advocates and social service agencies welcome this move, they also say that structural barriers should be addressed.
Education Minister Chan Chun Sing had announced these “near term” measures in Parliament recently.
But high costs for treatment, long wait times and social stigma are key barriers that social workers and mental health advocates say remain unsolved.