Follow-up on Views Gathered at the Stakeholder Engagement Session on "Challenges Faced by Children after Resuming of Normal School Life in Post-COVID Era"

On Mental Health Issues

Education services
- To support parents in taking care of students’ mental health, a “One-off Grant for Mental Health of Parents and Students” are applicable for the Parent-Teacher Association (PTAs) of publicly-funded schools since December 2023 to encourage schools to co-operate with their PTAs in organising home-school co-operation and parent education activities to support students’ and parents’ mental health in the 2023/24 and 2024/25 school years.
- Committee on Home-School Co-operation (CHSC) put effort in equipping parents with various skills in strengthening parent-child communication, early identifying children’s mental health problems and improving children’s psychological well-being. It co-operated with the Federations of PTAs in 18 districts and regional school heads associations to organise mental health talk to help parents understand the growth and development needs of their children, and help them identify early signs of children’s emotional problems and methods to support children who suffered from stress or emotional issues;
- The Education Bureau (EDB) provides “gatekeeper” training for teachers to enable early identification of students with mental health needs and suicidal risks. From the 2017/18 to 2020/21 school years, EDB provided primary and secondary teachers with the “Professional Development Programme for Mental Health”, comprising 18 hours of elementary training and 30 hours of in-depth training. Starting from the 2021/22 school year, the programme has been enhanced to become a 60-hour Thematic Course focusing on students with mental illness to enable teachers to understand the characteristics of students with mental health needs, relevant educational theories, practical strategies and skills, as well as effective support measures and practices.
- To release teachers stress from surging workload, EDB has commissioned non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or tertiary institutions since the 2023/24 school year, to organise workshops and online courses on physical and mental health to enhance teachers’ capacity at work. Workshops and courses covering topics related to mental health, expressive arts, mindfulness and physical health have been organised for teachers in 2023/24 school year.
- To promote mental health in schools, EDB launched a “4Rs Mental Health Charter” in April 2024 to cover four indispensable elements (viz. Rest, Relaxation, Relationship and Resilience) in fostering students’ mental health. Schools participating in the “Charter” will sign the “Mental Health Workplace Charter” and provide a mental health-friendly work environment to staff.
- To enhance the capabilities of teachers to promote home-school co-operation and parent education, EDB has commissioned a post-secondary institution to provide 12-hour short training courses annually for teachers at kindergartens (KGs), primary and secondary schools to sharpen their mediation skills for caring children with mental health needs and communication with parents since 2020/21 school year.
- EDB organises thematic teacher training related to mental health from time to time, e.g. 40 intensive training courses and workshops for teachers and school guidance personnel were organised in 2024 introducing related practical skills, counselling techniques and intervention strategies.
Health Services
- The Health Bureau (HHB) has launched the “18111 - Mental Health Support Hotline” in December 2023 to provide a one-stop, round-the-clock support for people with mental health needs (including students and carers). The Hotline has also established a referral mechanism with 4 relevant Government departments (including the Fire Services Department, Hospital Authority (HA), the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) and the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and about 20 NGOs providing different services, including suicide prevention, mental health services, family services, youth services and bereavement counselling, etc.
- HHB will launch a pilot scheme in in three District Health Centres in the second half of 2024 with community organisations to provide mental health assessments for members of the public aged 18 or above. The relevant Centres will follow-up on mild to moderate anxiety or depression cases screened out by the mental health assessment in collaboration with community organisations, providing intervention and counselling mainly through “Well-being Practitioners” who have received mental health training or social workers. High-risk cases will be referred to Integrated Community Centres for Mental Wellness, general practitioners or other multi-disciplinary community support services as early as possible.
- The Department of Health (DH) provides health promotion activities to parents via school-based health programmes, including quality outreaching health promotion services at secondary schools for adolescents, and programmes for parents to enhance their knowledge on adolescents' psychosocial health and equip them with the appropriate skills to assist adolescents throughout their development. DH also launched the Whole School Health Programme in 2019 to provide workshops and health talks on communication skills with children, parenting skills, and problematic internet use for parents.
- The Student Health Service (SHS) of the DH provides free annual health assessment for eligible primary and secondary school students with the aim of identifying students with health problems at an early stage for timely advice and intervention. The assessment covers not only physical health but also mental health and intellectual development, through clinical examinations and screening by questionnaires. Students found to have health problems will be referred to Special Assessment Centres under the SHS, specialist clinics of the HA, or other organisations as appropriate for further assessment or management.
- The SHS has launched the Adolescent Health Programme to provide quality outreaching health promotion services at secondary schools for adolescents using a life course and multi-disciplinary team approach. Designated topics on youth drug abuse and prevention are available for students, parents, and teachers.
Social Services
- For early identification and provision of assistance to pre-primary children and their families with welfare needs, SWD provided social work services to subsidised/aided pre-primary institutions including KGs, child care centres and KG-cum-child care centres since 2018/19 school year and the service has been regularised since the 2022/23 school year.
- SWD has implemented “Two school social workers for each school” in more than 460 secondary schools since the 2019/20 school year for early identification of students with the mental health needs. SWD will also scale up the training of social workers in community mental health service units to raise their capacity in handling complicated cases.
- Since 2021/22 school year, SWD has further strengthened the supporting manpower for school social work services in secondary schools to enable schools social workers to provide more intensive counselling and group activities for the students in need. The school social workers, in collaboration with community stakeholders, organise talks, groups and programmes, etc. to enhance students’ mental health and stress resilience, as well as making referrals to meet the needs of students.
- 65 Integrated Family Service Centres and two Integrated Services Centres, operated by SWD or subvented NGOs, provide a range of preventive, supportive and remedial services to render support and strengthen resilience of individuals and families with parenting capacity to enhance family functioning, strengthen family relationship and develop a positive attitude towards family responsibilities.
- SWD has enhanced the services of Integrated Community Centres for Mental Wellness in 2024-25, including strengthening early identification of persons with mental health needs and early intervention.
Cross-bureau/departmental collaboration
- The Government implemented the Three-Tier School-based Emergency Mechanism through cross-departmental collaboration of HHB, EDB and SWD in December 2023. The Mechanism provides early support to students with higher suicidal risk and the initiative has been extended to end-2024:
  - 1^st Tier: Schools will give priority of to take care of and counsel high-risked students through the school’s interdisciplinary teams by providing timely assistance or seeking professional counselling or treatment services for them;
  - 2^nd Tier: Off-campus support network through cross-departmental, cross-professional and cross-sectoral co-operation will be provided to enhance external support for schools. EDB will assist schools to refer cases to the off-campus support network team organised by SWD; and
  - 3^rd Tier: HHB will provide medical services to students with severe mental-health needs.
- Adopting a medical-education-social collaboration model, the “Student Mental Health Support Scheme” (SMHSS) provides support to students with mental health needs through a multi-disciplinary team comprising a psychiatric nurse from the HA, a designated teacher and a school social worker in schools. SMHSS was strengthened in 2022 to identify students in need and make arrangements for them to receive professional support at an early stage. On the advice of the Advisory Committee on Mental Health, the Scheme will continue to be enhanced in areas including improving case management, clarifying the roles of professionals from the medical, educational and social sectors; strengthening internal co-ordination in participating schools regarding mental health; and strengthening the monitoring of SMHSS operations, such as addressing students’ refusal of follow-up services. Close collaboration with schools and NGOs will be maintained to facilitate early identification of students in need and arrangements for them to receive professional support.

On Use of Internet and Electronic Devices

To encourage children to read physical books, EDB has launched ‘Promotion of Reading Grant’ and ‘Promotion of Reading Grant for KGs’ since 2018/19 and 2019/20 school year respectively. Public sector primary and secondary schools, as well as KGs that have joined the Kindergarten Education Scheme may apply for procuring reading resources, organising learning/reading activities related to promoting reading.
To promote healthy use of the Internet among students, EDB provides schools with the “Information Literacy for Hong Kong Students” learning framework, and a telephone hotline for supporting parents, teachers and students in need.
EDB launched the “Wise NET School Recognition Scheme” to promote healthy internet use and facilitate inter-school sharing of information and successful experience. Schools are encouraged to incorporate programmes and organise activities with themes such as “Internet Addiction” and “Prevention of Internet Pitfalls” to promote the use of the internet in a proper and safe manner, as well as enhancing students’ awareness of cybercrimes.
EDB provides teachers with professional development programmes and information kits to facilitate schools to implement e-learning related parent education.
EDB, Hong Kong Education City and CHSC have jointly organised seminars each year on effective parenting for the e-Generation and help parents to cultivate good habits of their children in using information technology in daily life and study.
SWD has set up the Facebook and Instagram fan pages and YouTube channel on the theme of Heart and Hut in 2020 and 2022 to promote child protection and prevent domestic violence. To prevent child sexual grooming, a series of videos on promotion of online child sexual abuse were produced and broadcasted in 2022 to arouse the public awareness to prevent children from falling into the prey of online culprits in 2022.
HKPF organised a thematic seminar in March 2024 on multi-disciplinary collaboration on handling of online sexual abuse cases.

On Schooling Arrangement and Related Support

Various subsidies and resources (e.g. Life-wide learning Grant, School-based After-school Learning and Support Programmes, etc) are provided by EDB for conducting after-school activities with a view to facilitating students’ whole-person development. To enrich students’ diversified learning experiences, schools can flexibly deploy the EDB’s relevant grants to organise activities, such as field trips, service learning, study tours, etc.
To help students adjust to the normal school life, EDB prepared The Primary Education Curriculum Guide (Pilot Version) in 2022 (PECG), emphasising the importance of students’ physical and psychological well-being and their balanced development. Schools are encouraged to continuously review their school-based assessment and assignment policies. EDB has developed videos “Meaningful Assignment”, “Enhancing Assignment Policy and Creating Space for Students’ Joyful Development” and “Assessment for Enhancement in Learning” to facilitate teachers and schools in optimising and implementing appropriate school‑based assessment and assignment policies.
PECG suggested measures for interface between KGs and primary schools, including replacing tests and examinations with diversified modes of assessment in the first term of Primary One (P1), organising orientation activities for P1 students to help them adapt to the new environment.
To facilitate K3 students’ smooth transition from KG to primary school, and help them acquire self-care abilities and physical, affective and cognitive development, EDB has developed different publications, including “A Quick Guide to Interface between KG and Primary Education”, a comic “Little Seedling Comics Series: Interface between Kindergartens and Primary Schools”, etc. to facilitate Primary 1 students adapt to primary school life.
EDB has all along been adopting diversified approaches to provide children with integrated and comprehensive learning experiences, including play and aesthetics/arts. Professional development programmes for KG principals and teachers are organised to help them acquire the teaching strategies of connecting various learning areas with real-life themes, and putting the concepts and implementation methods of learning through play into practice. Moreover, to align with the latest development of education and address children’s learning needs, EDB has provided KGs with diversified school-based support services, covering various areas such as “promoting learning through free play”, “cultivating children’s exploratory spirit (nature and living)” and “implementing diversified arts activities”.
Schools should devise policies to develop students’ regular attendance habits and inculcate a positive attitude and value towards schooling. A holistic early intervention approach should be in place for timely and proper intervention so that appropriate support can be provided to students showed unwillingness to go to school. Schools are also required to report to EDB on the 7^th day of students’ continuous absence, each non-attendance case reported would be examined in order to assure timely intervention. For non-attendance students aged below 15, intervention services including counselling, etc. will be provided with a view to bringing the student back to school at the earliest possible. SWD and/or relevant social services agencies may be involved for provision of appropriate professional support services.

On General Support to Children and their Parents/Carers

EDB offers Home-School Co-operation Grants for schools to organise home-school co-operation and parent education activities e.g. seminars and workshops for enhancing parenting skill, emotion management, mutual support group for parents, etc.
EDB has commissioned tertiary institutions/NGOs to organise parent education courses and activities for parents of primary and kindergarten students. One of the focuses of the parent education courses is to cultivating parents’ positive attitudes and strengthening their skills in managing their children’s behavioural problems and parental stress in general.
EDB has been implementing the territory-wide Positive Parent Campaign since June 2020 to promote parent education through extensive and diversified channels.
EDB has developed a Guiding Framework for Primary and Secondary Teacher Education Programmes for pre-service training for teachers, with the core domain “Student Growth and Development” clearly sets out that teachers are expected to demonstrate an understanding of and competence in promoting home-school collaboration and the importance of parental involvement in primary and secondary education.
CHSC organises talk to enhance parents’ understanding of children’s learning and developmental needs.
To increase the interest of children in participating in sports activities, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) has promoted activities that are more popular among children, such as swimming, children dance, mini-tennis and children fitness. To further encourage students to participate regularly in diverse sports activities and to develop a healthy and active lifestyle, LCSD has implemented a cross-sectoral collaboration to organise a wide range of sports activities for students’ participation.
To facilitate the physical health and development of children, LCSD has constructed and transformed children’s playgrounds to include play equipment, sensory stimulation facilities so as to allow children of different ages and abilities to enjoy playing and learning different skills for a balanced development.

On Support Measures for Children with Specific Needs and their Parents/Carers

Measures for early identification and intervention
- To enrich parents with understanding of the pace of children development for early identification in development delay, EDB has commissioned a post-secondary institution to develop the Curriculum Framework on Parent Education (KG) and Curriculum Framework on Parent Education (Primary School) in 2021 and 2022. One of the core strands in the Framework is “Understanding Child Development”. It provides a common basis for systematic provision of territory-wide, community-based, school-based as well as e‑learning parent education courses for parents with different objectives across stages by relevant institutions, groups or organisations.
- The Family Health Service conducted Developmental Surveillance Scheme in all Maternal and Child Health Centres, with a view to enabling parents and other caregivers to be competent and effective in promoting and observing children's development. Information on child development and parenting is provided to parents and other caregivers.
Child assessment service
- HHB has launched a Pilot Scheme on New Service Protocol for Child and Adolescent with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Comorbidity in 2021 to provide assessment and treatment services for children and adolescents with mild or moderate autism spectrum disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder through cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary professionals. The pilot scheme has set up multi-disciplinary community service platforms in five districts, i.e. Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Central and West, Kowloon East, New Territories East and New Territories West. A multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral professional team will conduct standardised assessment for the participants and formulate individualised support services. The services has been extended to the end of July 2024.
- DH has maintained its Child Assessment Service during pandemic and has adopted a triage system to ensure that children with urgency are accorded a higher priority for assessment upon preliminary assessment by nurses.
Rehabilitation services
- SWD has regularised the Tier 1 Support Services, which was integrated with the On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Service (OPRS) since September 2023. With the school-based and integrated approach, the waiting time for various pre-school rehabilitation services has continuous improved, comprehensive and timely support are thereby provided to pre-school children with different levels of special needs through inter-disciplinary service teams.
- The inter-disciplinary service teams of OPRS provide on-site rehabilitation training and support services for children with Special Education Need (SEN) under the age of six who are attending the participating KGs/ KG-cum-CCCs, as well as professional support for teachers, child care workers, parents and carers, with case review conducted once every six months for follow-up on individual child’s progress.
- Besides providing services for the target pre-school children and pre-school rehabilitation units, teams from OPRS also provide support to their parents on promoting positive attitude and effective skills in nurturing children with special needs.
Support for schools
- To help public sector ordinary schools cater for students with SEN, EDB has all along been providing schools with additional resources, professional support and teacher training. Schools may flexibly and strategically deploy the manpower and resources provided by EDB. EDB also provides support to schools in catering for students’ needs through School-based Educational Psychology Service and Enhanced School-based Speech Therapy Service.
- Since the 2015/16 school year, EDB has continuously strengthened the pre-service and in-service training for KG teachers, improving their ability to cater for the diverse needs of students, including those at risk of developmental delay. Currently, a certain number of serving KG teachers have received relevant training, and have generally mastered the basic knowledge and skills in identifying and caring for children with special needs. EDB will continue to promote inclusive culture in KGs, make a sustained effort to provide relevant training for more KG teachers, and develop evidence-based support strategies and teaching resource packages, with a view to helping KG teachers cater for learner diversity.
- Schools are staffed with professionals including Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO), guidance personnel, school social workers and school-based educational psychologists to provide students in need (including students with SEN, mental and emotional issues) with necessary support and guidance. The student guidance and support services encompass a comprehensive range of remedial, preventive and developmental guidance services. SENCO will lead a multi-disciplinary Student Support Team to motivate teachers to adopt a 3-Tier Intervention Model to cater for students SEN.
- EDB launched a one-stop information website “SENSE” (sense.edb.gov.hk) in September 2021 to provide information on the policies, measures and latest information on special education and integrated education. The website provides reference for teachers, parents and the public to foster the healthy growth of students with SEN and to develop their potential.
- EDB launched the “Integrated Education in Practice” webpage featuring practical experiences of schools in implementing integrated education to enhance the awareness and understanding of the policies. The core learning elements of General Studies curriculum and the “essential learning content” of Primary Humanities also include content related to care for others and respect people from different cultural backgrounds so as to develop students’ care and concern for the well-being of their families and the community. Schools are encouraged to organise learning activities both within and beyond the classroom to nurture students’ proper values and attitudes.
- EDB provides systematic teacher training and school seminars to introduce the effective strategies in supporting students with SEN, and organises regular regional or territory-wide parent talks to equip parents with the skills and knowledge needed to support their children with SEN.
- For pre-school children with special needs promoting to primary schools, a collaborative mechanism has been put in place among EDB, the SWD, the DH and the HA, to ensure the recipient primary schools of the children concerned can take note of their special needs early and arrange support for them. EDB has enhanced the SEN information transfer mechanism since the 2019/20 school year to enable the pre-school rehabilitation service units subvented by the SWD to transmit the Comprehensive Development Progress Report for Pre-school Children to the recipient public sector or Direct Subsidy Scheme primary schools for appropriate support arrangements. This mechanism can help parents understand the support provided by schools and promote home-school communication.
- There is an established mechanism, under which a number of Government Departments, including the DH, the HA, the SWD and the EDB, work together to provide various services for children with special needs or at risk of developmental delay. The enhancement in requirement for teacher to student ratio from 1:15 (including the principal) to 1:11 (principal not included) under the Kindergarten Education Scheme allows kindergarten (KG) teachers to have more room for various professional activities.