Support for students’ mental health and training for teachers in madrasahs

Response to parliamentary questions on mental health support for students and training for teachers in madrasahs

Questions

Mr Mohd Fahmi Bin Aliman: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development and Minister-in-charge for Muslim Affairs (a) what is the current number of Madrasah students diagnosed with mental health conditions; (b) whether measures are put in place to engender awareness about mental health issues among Madrasah students; and (c) whether more can be done to combat the stigma surrounding mental health in Madrasahs.

Mr Mohd Fahmi Bin Aliman: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development and Minister-in-charge for Muslim Affairs (a) what is the current number of Madrasah teachers in Singapore; (b) what is the number of Madrasah teachers who have benefitted from (i) Teachers Development Capitation Grant (ii) MUIS-led Teacher Development Programmes and (iii) Teachers Training Support Grant; and (c) whether MUIS or the Ministry is working towards programmes to equip Madrasah teachers with the necessary skills to deal with mental health issues among their student population.

Response

Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs & Minister for Social and Family Development:

1. Mental health is an important aspect of our overall health and well-being. The Government has been working with the community to strengthen support for the mental health and well-being of our youth on various fronts. This includes Malay/Muslim youths and students in our madrasahs.
2. Muis partners community organisations with specialised expertise in the area of mental health to support the well-being of our madrasah students.
   
   a. One such partnership is with Club HEAL, where professional counsellors provide face-to-face counselling sessions and support to the madrasahs. Between 2018 and 2020, 175 mental health-related cases in the madrasahs were referred to Club HEAL for counselling support, for issues such as stress, low self-esteem, depression and anxiety.
   
   b. Other partners include the REACH teams (which stands for Response, Early Intervention and Assessment in Community Mental Health), Persatuan Pemudi Islam Singapura (PPIS) and the national network of Family Service Centres.
3. Our madrasahs also conduct mental health talks and enrichment programmes for teachers, students and parents. Peer support is available in the form of a buddy system for students, and there are regular one-on-one teacher-student sessions so that teachers can check on students’ well-being.
4. There are about 270 teachers across the six full-time madrasahs. Muis provides a range of training opportunities for madrasah teachers.
   
   a. Under the Teachers Development Capitation Grant, every full-time madrasah teacher receives a $1,000 training grant per annum to undertake relevant training programmes. This is complemented by the centrally coordinated MUIS-led Teacher Development Programmes, which sets out a training plan for madrasah teachers. 
   
   b. In addition, the Teachers Training Support Grant sponsors madrasah teachers for selected training programmes with external institutions such as the National Institute of Education (NIE), Edith Cowan University and Republic Polytechnic.  To date, 60% of madrasah teachers have benefited from training support programmes under this scheme.
   
   c. Specifically in the area of mental health, madrasah teachers are equipped with the skills and competencies to respond to the mental health needs of their students. In 2020, Muis sponsored 16 madrasah teachers for the ‘Certificate in Para Counselling’ programme by the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), and the ‘Post-Graduate Diploma in Islamic Counselling’ and ‘Situational Counselling’ by Pergas. Currently, each madrasah has two to three teachers with basic training in counselling including identifying early signs of emotional trouble.