Following is a question by the Hon Lau Ka-keung and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, in the Legislative Council today (June 24):

Question:

     In recent years, students' mental health issues have aroused considerable public concern. According to information provided by the Education Bureau in its reply to this Council on the Estimates of Expenditure 2026-2027, a cumulative total of 141 fatal suspected suicide cases of primary and secondary school students was recorded between 2021 and 2025. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the following information for the past three years (set out in a table):

(i) the annual number of fatal suspected suicide cases of primary and secondary school students, and the year-on-year rate of change (broken down by class level and gender); and

(ii) the respective annual numbers of cases received under the second and third tiers of the Three-Tier Emergency Mechanism, together with the successful follow-up rates;

(2) as there are views pointing out that most students with suicidal tendencies do not exhibit obvious warning signs beforehand, whether, apart from the existing Three-Tier Emergency Mechanism which is primarily identification-based, the authorities will introduce other specific measures in the future to further prevent student suicides;

(3) as there are views pointing out that the support provided under the existing mechanism for students with chronic absenteeism is inadequate, whether the authorities will study the setting up of a dedicated team to proactively reach out to absentee students in the community; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(4) given that a number of cities in the country have introduced legislation to promote the mental health of primary and secondary school students, whether the authorities will draw on the relevant experience and develop mental health education courses tailored to the characteristics of students at different age levels, so as to systematically impart to students knowledge on emotional management, stress coping, etc. with a view to enhancing students' mental health; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(5) as there are views pointing out that students from high-risk families, such as those with parents having a history of mental illness or a tendency towards domestic violence, are more susceptible to mental health issues, whether the authorities have, while protecting personal data privacy, currently put in place a mechanism to identify and follow up on such students; if so, of the details; if not, whether they will explore establishing such a mechanism; and

(6) as there are views pointing out that there is a severe shortage of school counsellors, with a single counsellor possibly having to handle dozens or even over a hundred cases, what measures the authorities have in place to encourage young people to join the counselling profession, so as to alleviate the manpower pressure in the profession?

Reply:

President,

     The Government attaches great importance to the mental health of students, and has been providing support for schools through cross-departmental, multi-‍disciplinary and cross-sector collaboration. Furthermore, the Education Bureau (EDB) actively assists schools in adopting the Whole School Approach (WSA) directed at three levels, namely "Universal", "Selective" and "Indicated", to provide enhanced support for students with mental health needs, including those with suicidal risk. In consultation with the Health Bureau (HHB) and the Social Welfare Department (SWD), our consolidated reply to the question raised by the Hon Lau Ka-keung is as follows:

(1)
(i) The EDB has all along been requiring primary and secondary schools to report fatal suspected student suicide cases in order to provide appropriate professional support to the schools concerned. The numbers of fatal suspected student suicide cases of primary and secondary students in Hong Kong reported in the past three years (2023 to 2025) are tabulated below. Of the total number of cases reported, about 90 per cent were cases involving secondary students, while those involving primary students accounted for about 10 per cent. Cases involving male students accounted for about 59 per cent of the total number of cases reported, while about 41 per cent were those involving female students.
 

Year	Number of cases
2023	32
2024	28
2025	31

     As indicated in relevant international and local studies, suicide (including attempted suicide) is a complicated issue influenced by the interplay of multiple factors, mainly related to interpersonal relationships (including family, social or relationship problems) and personal issues (such as learning and school adjustment, depressed mood and mental illness). Each case has its unique underlying causes.

(ii) To early identify and timely support students at higher suicidal risk, the Government has implemented, through cross-departmental collaboration among the EDB, the HHB and the SWD, the Three-tier School-‍based Emergency Mechanism (the Mechanism) in all secondary schools in Hong Kong since December 2023. In the 2025/26 school year, the Mechanism is regularised in all secondary schools across the territory and extended on a trial basis to Primary Four to Six.  The number of cases referred by schools/ the EDB under the second-tier mechanism to the off-campus support network teams engaged by the SWD as of end-March 2026, broken down by school year, are tabulated below:
 

School year	Number of cases referred by schools/EDB
2023/24 (since December 2023)	104
2024/25	299
2025/26 (as of end-March 2026)	330

     Under the third-tier mechanism, school principals can directly refer students at high suicidal risk to psychiatric specialist out-patient clinics of the Hospital Authority (HA) for assessment and treatment. HA's specialist out-patient clinics adopt a triage system to ensure that patients with urgent medical conditions requiring early intervention are given priority for follow-up and treatment.

     The numbers of cases referred by school principals to HA's psychiatric services, the percentages of such cases triaged as Priority 1 (urgent) and Priority 2 (semi-urgent), as well as the numbers of enquiry calls received through the dedicated telephone consultation hotline for school principals as of end-March 2026 are tabulated below:
 

School year	Number of cases referred by school principals under the third-tier mechanism (Note 1, 2)			Number of enquiry calls received through the dedicated telephone consultation hotline for school principals (Note 2)
	Number of referral cases	Percentage of Priority 1 (urgent) cases	Percentage of Priority 2 (semi-urgent) cases
2023/24 (since December 2023)	292	2%	39%	108
2024/25	152	7%	55%	65
2025/26 (as of end-March 2026)	63	11%	48%	39

Note 1: Among the referral cases, the cases other than those triaged as Priority 1 (urgent) and Priority 2 (semi-urgent) were under Routine (stable) category or were already being followed up by the HA's psychiatric services.

Note 2: The numbers of cases referred by school principals under the third-tier mechanism and the numbers of enquiry calls received through the dedicated telephone consultation hotline for school principals are provided by the psychiatric services under the HA's hospital clusters (figures as at June 11, 2026).

(2), (4) to (6) The EDB encourages schools to adopt the WSA directed at three levels, namely "Universal", "Selective" and "Indicated" as suggested by the Committee on Prevention of Student Suicides, to promote and take care of students' mental health as well as provide enhanced support for students with mental health needs (including those with suicidal risk) through the curriculum, information dissemination, activities, training, professional support, etc.

     At the Universal level, the EDB supports schools in implementing values education (including life education and health education) through school curriculum, professional development programmes, learning and teaching resources, and student activities, etc. The Values Education Curriculum Framework (2026) announced in April 2026 continues to list health education (including promotion of physical and psychological well-being) as one of the major focuses that schools should continue to strengthen. Furthermore, the EDB has been adopting "Be Grateful and Treasure What We Have, Stay Positive and Optimistic" as the theme of the "My Pledge to Act" Values Education Promotional Campaign since 2019, while taking forward various student development programmes. By offering adventure-based, team-building and problem-solving training as well as producing diversified learning and teaching resources, such as developing "life event" exemplars related to life education and health education, we aim to enhance self-discipline, confidence and resilience of students and, in turn, help them embrace challenges with courage, optimism and a positive attitude.

     To promote mental health in schools in a more comprehensive and systematic manner, the EDB continues to make every effort to promote the 4Rs Mental Health Charter (4Rs Charter) in schools in the 2025/26 school year. With "Resilience" being the core theme this year, schools are provided with more services, activities and programmes. As of early June 2026, more than 95 per cent of public sector schools have joined the 4Rs Charter. In addition, the Mental Health Literacy Resource Packages for different key learning stages have been launched and uploaded onto the "Mental Health @School" website, providing further support for teachers and school personnel to promote mental health literacy in class.

     At the Selective level, the EDB provides a wide array of training for teachers, parents and students to enable early identification of and timely support to students with mental health needs. The training includes the gatekeeper training, thematic course for teachers, which focuses on the needs of students with mental illness, and the Peer Power - Student Gatekeeper Training Programme for secondary students. Moreover, the EDB has set up the "Mental Health @School" Teacher Professional Network to help teachers promote student mental health in schools through regular sharing of the latest information and relevant resources. A number of training workshops have also been organised for school personnel, with a more intense focus on enhancing their capacity for catering for students with mental health needs.

     At the Indicated level, the EDB has been providing public sector ordinary schools with the Learning Support Grant since the 2017/18 school year, which covers students with mental illness, enabling schools to utilise additional resources to enhance their support for the needs of these students. In addition, the HHB, in collaboration with the EDB, the HA and the SWD, has launched the "Student Mental Health Support Scheme" to provide appropriate support services for students with mental health needs. Meanwhile, to ensure timely support is available for students who attempt suicide, the EDB has put in place an arrangement together with the Hong Kong Police Force and the SWD since April 2024, under which the Police, with the consent of parents/guardians, will refer students who attempted suicide outside school to receive follow-up services at the students' attending schools or appropriate social services units arranged by the SWD. Information of assistance seeking will nonetheless be provided for the students concerned and their parents/guardians even if the referral is declined.

     Regarding parent education, the EDB has launched the Curriculum Frameworks on Parent Education applicable to kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, enabling parents to acquire the knowledge and skills required to nurture their children in a more systematic manner. One of the core strands of the Curriculum Frameworks is the promotion of healthy, happy and balanced development of children/adolescents. In addition, the EDB runs the territory-wide Positive Parent Campaign every year to promote parent education through extensive and diversified channels. To help parents acquire the knowledge and skills in supporting the healthy development of their children and taking care of their children's mental health, the EDB also keeps organising relevant parent education talks/activities. Furthermore, the EDB has launched the one-stop parent education website "Smart Parent Net" to provide parents with easy access to information on supporting the physical and psychological development of students.

     The EDB has all along been providing comprehensive student guidance and support services in primary and secondary schools through the WSA and multi-‍disciplinary collaboration. This includes early identification of and timely support for students with mental health needs through collaboration among teachers and professionals from different disciplines in schools, such as guidance personnel, school social workers and school-based educational psychologists. Currently, primary and secondary schools implement the measures of "one school social worker for each school" and "two school social workers for each school" respectively. All along, school social workers have been working with school personnel to co-ordinate and mobilise external community resources, so as to help students handle their personal, family and interpersonal relationship or learning problems, enhance their mental health and resilience. In addition to engaging social workers to provide guidance services, schools may, according to students' needs, flexibly deploy or pool together different resources to employ additional student guidance personnel or procure related services from organisations, thereby strengthening the support for students. Moreover, the School-based Educational Psychology Service has covered all public sector ordinary primary and secondary schools starting from the 2016/17 school year, which aims to provide comprehensive and regular case follow-up and intervention services for schools and students, while strengthening schools' preventive and development work.

(3) As regards support for students with prolonged non-attendance, the EDB is committed to safeguarding students' right to education. Guided by the principles of early identification and follow-up, multi-disciplinary collaboration and WSA, the Non-‍attendance Cases Team (NAC Team) comprising subject members from the EDB works in conjunction with schools, government departments and social welfare agencies to follow up student non-attendance cases actively. Under the existing mechanism, all primary and secondary schools (including publicly-‍funded schools and private schools offering formal curriculum) are required to strictly comply with the principle of "early notification" to report student non-attendance cases to the EDB on the seventh school day of students' continuous absence, regardless of their reasons. Upon receipt of reports, the EDB will look into the cases and the reasons for absence to facilitate timely follow-up actions by schools. The EDB will also provide appropriate support for the students concerned and their families as and when necessary, while closely monitoring the students' progress after returning to schools. Where necessary, the NAC Team will refer the cases to relevant government departments or social welfare agencies for the arrangement of professional services or programmes as appropriate. The EDB will maintain liaison with schools, government departments and social welfare agencies, share good practices with the school sector and continue to enhance the mechanism for handling student non-‍attendance cases, with a view to safeguarding students' right to education.

Ends/Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Issued at HKT 14:15

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